Polo Tournament.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 224, 25 March 1896, Page 2

Polo Tournament.

The final games for the Saville and junior cups were played off yesterday afternoon at Palmerston, in the presence > of a large attendance of the public. ■ The weather was very disagreeable, a ' sou'east gale prevailing during the • afternoon. The concluding match for 1 Saville cup, between Manawatu and • Oroua, was somewhet tame, the former ' having all the best of the play and succeeded in secnring an easy victory by 8 ' goals to 2. The teams were :—Mana- > watu-F. S. Mcßae, A. S. Baker, F. P. • Snow, W. Lloyd. Oroua— O. Robinson, • J. Strang, B. Gower, J. R. McLennan. i Lloyd played a splendid game at full '■ back, while Baker, also, played a very i dashing game. Oroua fought out to the 1 finish an uphill battle with commendable pluck, although they were outclassed. The winners were presented with the Saville cup by Mrs R. S. Abraham at the conclusion of the game, Mr A. E. G. Rhodes remarking that the exhibition of polo at this tournament was tbe best yet seen in New Zealand. The game for the Junior Cup, between i Wharerangi and Feilding, resulted in the most exciting contest of the tournament. The teams were;— Feilding— E. M. Lewis, N. Gorton, W. B. Giesen, F. E. Pickering. Wharerangi— G. Heslop, C. Bennett, S. Bennett, S. J. Bennett. From the commencement of the game it was apparent the teams were evenly matched, although the Wharerangi players bad by far the best ponies, while the Feilding team hit better, but at times they waited on the off chance of their opponents missing the bail before rushing at it. Feilding were the first to score, and in tho second spell Wharerangi made tbe play faster and succeeded in scoring a goal, Feilding responding with a second goal before the close of the spell. In the next spell each side scored a goal, and in the fourth Feilding scored one goal and Wharerangi two after some fast play, thus equalising the score — Feilding 4, Warerangi 4. Iv the fifth spell Wharerangi added two goals to their credit, and at the commencement of the last spell it looked almost certain they would win, but Feilding were not to be denied, and they strained their utmost to win. The game was now very fast and exciting, the ball being hit all over the field. Towards the end of the spell Feilding scored two goals in quick succession, and time was called with tbe scores even. In the play-off tbe ball was hit np and down the field for a few minutes, when Feilding scored the coyeted goal after a dashing piece of play up the field, thus winning by 7 goals to 6. The winners are deserving of every credit for their win, and the plucky game they played against such a good team as Wharerangi.