Australian Tour 2017, report from Bruce Maclarty and Sam Hewitson.

Report from Bruce Maclarty, SA Mens Coach

 

I cannot believe that it’s all over!!  History made!! Unhappy Australians, and now back to the real world!!

A very big and general thank you to all of you who made the success of this tour possible. For fear of leaving somebody out I will stay away from naming names but this success was in the truest form a team effort!!

I know that many of you followed our progress on the airwaves or on the FB video feed but neither of those do justice to the atmosphere created by our hosts by holding night games at a 96 team tournament!!

To say the least it was an electric hostile environment but in many regards it brought out the best in the “boys”.  Before each game my final request to the team was very simple “make the crowd go quiet” .   Winning under these conditions was always going to be difficult, Australia boast a proud record of never having lost a series at home and were not going to give that up without a fight !!

The first game was surreal in many ways as we got off to the perfect start and ended the chukka 4….1 up. We managed to stay in front and as we started to work out our horses the confidence grew. Our line outs were good and our no 1’s conversion rate nearly 100%…..it’s an easy game when you convert all your possession.  At the final whistle, 10 goals ahead, the series was ours to lose.

The 2nd game – what a difference 24 hours makes to a host team with their backs to the wall!! At our team meeting we had discussed the fact that to outplay us the Aussie had to put us off our ball orientated game and the most likely place to start was with a physical onslaught in the line-outs. What followed was way beyond anything I could have anticipated and the game turned into something more resembling a cage fighting expo. Let’s just say that after absorbing a few “punches” we were able to start playing polocrosse and after being 9 or so goals down managed to finish strongly to run out winners by 4 goals. It was hard to fathom that the series was ours!! A few celebratory beers turned into a show and tell session to see who had the most battle scars!

The 3rd game- sometimes it is hard to get motivated for a game at the end of a victorious series but with this team that was not the case. To cover all my bases I asked Kirsten, our sports psychologist, to prepare a different final team session as I knew that Australia would be desperate to finish as 2-1 loser rather than 3-0 and I’m very glad that I did as Aussie really came out with intent and forced us to stage another “come from behind to win game”.  It is a testament to the character of these players that not only did they manage to win two games that many teams would have lost but they did so in such a manner that I never felt that we were out of the game or that it had got beyond us. At one point in the 2nd game, 9 goals down,   I was asked by a concerned spectator “what are you going to do “? I replied that I was not sure but what I was sure of was that I was not going to panic!! This team never panicked, stayed true to its structures, believed in its combinations, focused on the basics, rode the Aussie horses better than Australians and played for each other and their country.

These young men will go down in the annals of South African polocrosse history as the first team to win in Australia and many will say it is the best men’s team ever! Who knows about that, ever and never are two words just itching to prove us wrong and my hope is that they are just the first of many successful teams that go to Australia and conquer the inventors of the Game!!

I might keep some of the other tour moments/stories for the next newsletter but in closing I would like to thank the players for the memories they have created through hard work and personal sacrifice, Steff’s long blond locks spring to mind as does Gray’s black and blue rib cage. We went on an awesome journey and with a great bunch of mates, what more can you ask for.

Cheers Bruce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BEING ON TOUR- Sam Hewitson

 

A report back from the LADIES MANAGER on the recent OUTBOUND TOUR to Australia (this is about my experiences of being on Tour, I will thank Sponsors in my next mail – as I cannot adequately thank them here):

 

When Helene asked me to manage the Ladies Team who would be touring Australia along with a Mens Team, my first reaction was:

“I don’t need to take 6 days leave to be beside a polocrosse field – no matter the country”

 

I WAS WRONG!

 

Apart from the “job” stress of raising money, spending it & trying to do good by all, representing & being on tour with a team of National Sportswomen and Men was an honour & a privilege!

 

AND DOING THIS ALONGSIDE FELLOW COUNTRYMEN & WOMEN VOLUNTEERS/SUPPORTERS was incredibly humbling & special!

 

In a nutshell, apart from the people listed further below who accepted “jobs”, the following persons comprised the SA Supporters who all just pitched in to help & support our 2 Teams:

• Our right-hand in Aus, ex-pats RICHARD & IRMA MEAKER, set up an amazing “day camp” for us at the fields and stayed there to look after, shop, cook, clean-up & wash for us, as well as getting us a bus at a great rate & the free use of their car!
• World Cup Sponsors, ONE INSURANCE’s Sharon & Henry Simpson, made Australia their holiday destination so that they could join us for the week, shop, cook & clean-up for us too (also sponsored one evening meal for everyone).
• SHANNON & SAM GILSON extended their stay after Albury to brilliantly photograph our experiences and help with the horses.
• As did ANTOINETTE, CAELAN & KEARA MATTHEUS, who also shopped, cooked & washed clothes for us and helped with the horses.
• As did CAROLINE & CAMRYN MINNAAR help with the horses.
• JANE & RUTH O’SULLIVAN cleaned-up & washed clothes for us and helped with the horses.
• PETER & HYLTON CHOICE and TONY HIGGS were on hand for all things polocrosse & helped with horses
• KAREN COCKER was a great assistant to Ladies Horse-Coordinator JAMES HACKLAND.
• JACQUIE MINNAAR helped both the Ladies & the Men (our Ladies reserve who chose to tour with us J)
• JOHAN DE JAGER helped the Ladies
• CHARLOTTE PYKETT, JOSH LE ROUX & KEENAN CLASSEN were great assistants to Mens Horse-Co-ordinator CAMILLA HARRIS.
• As was HETTA CARTHEW who came over from the UK specially to assist our Men.
• COLIN STOREY & GYSBERT BOONZAIER (SA’s living in Aus) came and helped with the horses.
• GRAHAM BENNETT saw to it that we had a Cooker, Urn & extra Cooler Boxes
• GERT & IRMA VAN DER MERWE were always on hand to help
• DEON, SHARON & SAM who helped us at the Horse & Jockey Motel & came to watch every game with us
• And then all the other SUPPORTERS: Tersia & Marietjie (SA), Teresa, Albert, Jenna & Nicole Vermaas (ex-Sa in Aus), Sally, Rikki & Stacey Carey (ex-Zim in Aus), Nola, Ben & Shellie Kloppers (ex-Zim in NZ), Marlene Boshoff (ex-SA in Aus), Rob & Judy Hendry (ex-SA in Aus), Kane & Gail Matthews (ex-Zim in NZ), Rob & Sherry Heathcote (ex-Zim in NZ), Roy Pistorius (ex-Zim in Aus), Rich Games (ex-Zim in Aus)
• PJ & Wendy Roodt for lending us “the Green Machine” Pajero & trailer for the duration of our stay
• And then singling out a few Aussies who went over & above their call of duty:

Merv Mangan & his brother Chris, for housing Gavin Flowers and lending us the “pick up” ( a double cab bakkie which was very handy transporting tack and players), Carolyn Garland for 40 seater bus to & fro airport and assisting with a pile of yellow bandages J. And I regret I don’t have the young lady’s name on hand who loaned us the use of her Beamer throughout.

 

 

 

OUR TOURING PARTY: 

OFFICIALS:

SA President – Hannes Van Aswegen

SA Chief Umpire – Gavin Flowers

 

MENS TEAM:                             LADIES TEAM:

Coach –                     Bruce MacLarty                        Gavin Cocker

Manager –                Helene Steenkamp                     Sam Hewitson

Umpire –                   Paddy O’Sullivan                       Henry Harris

Horse Coordinator – Camilla Harris                           James Hackland

Captain –                  Jannie Steenkamp                      Jean Hackland

 

Men’s Team –                     Graham MacLarty, Travis Timm, Attie van Wyk, Nico van Wyk, Retief Steenkamp & Stefan Harris

Ladies Team –                    Celicia Jacobs, Dawnay Jacobs, Natalie MacLarty, Elri van der Merwe, Leigh Higgs & Caley Higgs

 

I apologise if I have left anybody out – I am human and err often! I will re-read my mail & want to add to it, but work beckons….

 

 

It was great to meet so many new people (now friends) who share/d a common pride in our National Ladies & Men!

Win or Lose on the field, the camaraderie of the trip was an outright WINNER!

 

I would do this “job” again (and much better next time, based on this experience).

And I would recommend to anyone: consider planning a holiday to Queensland Australia (Warwick) in mid-April 2019 to join the SA SUPPORTERS TOURING PARTY and support our WORLD CUP TEAM as they defend their back-to-back WORLD CHAMPION TITLES.

Speak to Helene or me if you need any assistance with regards to Accomodation, Budgeting, etc.

 

THANKS HELENE FOR BRINGING ME ON BOARD!

 

Kind regards,

Sam.

Samantha Hewitson

SA LADIES MANAGER

Australia Tour – April 2017