The 2011 Polocrosse World Cup

The 2011 Polocrosse World Cup was held at the Onley Equestrian Centre, Rugby, United Kingdom in July being the first time it was held outside of Australia.

The Australian Team consisted of the 8 best players from all over the country: Cameron Shepherd - Qld, Jess Jolly – Vic, Robert Sibley and Jodi Tiver – WA, Sandra Weston, Will Weston, Alison Mathie and Lance Anderson all from NSW. The team undertook a series of training and preparation camps from February in Victoria and NSW to help develop a strong team partnership and try to gain full advantage of the high level polocrosse here in Australia.

The team had landed in the UK and tried to recover from the jetlag as quickly as possible and following the Official Horse Draw on Monday they had only a few days to try and work out the best horse and rider combinations with horses that aren't quite the standard of their own back here! This is a huge task for the players to try and develop a partnership with their horse within a few short days but each did their best to work with the Horse Pool we had drawn before play began on Friday.

Australia were to face new comers to the World Cup in Zambia as their first game and put them away convincingly 33-5. This was a good start for them but the toughest tasks were yet to come. The team faced a fired up Zimbabwe next and ultimately the inexperience of the horses were the undoing going down 21-12. All players needed to regroup and find a way forward for Sunday's game against New Zealand which they needed to win in order to stay in contention for the finals. The Australia's started the better and never looked like being beaten winning the game 29-5.

There was a mandatory rest period over the next few days while an International and Pony Club Challenge were played but World Cup Semi Finals were on everyone's mind with Australia to face the very competitive South Africa. With both teams desperate for the win which would see them go straight through to the World Cup final the action was fast paced and extremely tough right from the first chukka but once again the Australian horses were unable to stay with the more experienced pool of South Africa and they unfortunately went down fighting 25-11. This set up a final for 3rd and 4th place between Australia and the USA and although conditions were incredibly muddy and wet Australia's experience and class bought them home the win 31-8 and 3rd position on the World ranking. South Africa continued their good form beating Zimbabwe in the World Cup Final.

The next World Cup will be hosted by the reigning champion South Africa in 2015, we only hope that Australia can continue to progress and strengthen their International Polocrosse and once again bring home the World Cup trophy!

Photography by Leo McGuire

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