| Draw
for Quadrangular Tournament announced
The draw for the Quadrangular
Polocrosse Tournament, taking place between Australia, the
UK, South Africa and New Zealand at the Bong Bong racecourse
in New South Wales from the 16th of April, has been announced.
The defending world champions, Australia, will start the
campaign with a match against their local rivals New Zealand
and then the UK play South Africa.
The full draw is as follows:-
Thursday 16th 11am – Australia
vs New Zealand
Thursday 16th 2pm – United Kingdom vs South Africa
Friday 17th 11am – New Zealand
vs South Africa
Friday 17th 2pm – Australia vs United Kingdom
Saturday 18th 11am – Australia
vs South Africa
Saturday 18th 2pm – United Kingdom vs New Zealand
Sunday 19th 11am – Final
3rd vs 4th (Division 2)
Sunday 19th 2pm – Final 1st vs 2nd (Division 1)
Three of the teams competing
have been forced to make changes to their desired line ups
in the run up to the tournament. The hosts Australia have
replaced Robbie Sibley with Cameron Sheppard in their mens
section.
The UK have had to make two
changes; in the ladies section Beth Peaker has been replaced
with Charlotte Pykett and the men's reserve, Hamish Michael,
has been replaced with Daniel Duhig. They also go to the
tournament without a reserve lady player after their reserve
player Lucy Shell withdrew from the squad. Beth Peaker withdrew
after she decided that her future lay in New Zealand with
her boyfriend, New Zealand star Shane Hill, and so withdrew
to try and get in the New Zealand team. Both Lucy and Hamish
are believed to have withdrawn due to the cost of travelling
to the tournament. The UK squad do face the longest trip
and the highest flight costs and with little sponsorship
of polocrosse available in the UK the squad have been forced
to cover nearly all the costs of the tournament themselves.
In a massive blow to South
African hopes, Charl Du Plessis has had to be replaced by
Steven Kane. Charl Du Plessis was the South African's top
number 1 at the 2007 World Cup, with the ability to throw
goals from all angles and with amazing hand-eye coordination.
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