The Star: September 07, 2023

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22 The Star Thursday September 7 2023
SPORTS NEWS Brought to you by Thursday September 7 2023 The Star 23 Curtains | Blinds | Shutters Unit 2 / 99 Sawyers Arms Rd 03 365 4666 or 0800 836 587 www.venluree.co.nz Cats eye their second In Brief • By Jaime Cunningham CLAIMING back-to-back titles for the first time in 25 years will be on the back of Canterbury Cats players’ minds when the National Hockey Championship gets under way on Sunday. Four Canterbury teams will contest their grades at the weeklong tournament in Hamilton. The Cats beat North Harbour 2-1 to lift the Kirkpatrick Cup at the tournament last year. Despite their consistency in past tournaments, the Cats haven’t won two national titles in a row since their four-year dominance from 1994-1998. Cats head coach Andrew Hastie said their focus heading into the first game won’t be on winning the tournament. “It’ll be lovely if we can get to the final again but it’s more on how we can play to get there,” he said. “We’ll control what we can control.” The Cats go into the tournament on the back of a successful Ōtautahi Cup, in which they won all three games. After beating national title in a row both Wellington and Otago by one goal two weeks ago, the Cats are set to play them again in the round robin stage on Sunday and Monday. Hastie said the team have analysed the previous matches and feel confident. “We’ve gone through those matches and know what we need to work on. “But I think the biggest thing was that we have gelled really well as a team since.” Hastie, who played 68 games for the Black Sticks, said winning the Ōtautahi Cup was a great experience for the squad’s six new players. “I was very pleased with how the new Cats played,” he said. “We had to play with 13 players due to illness and injury so the way they worked with heart and passion was impressive.” Hastie, who previously coached the Canterbury Cavaliers, is in his second year as head coach of the Cats. Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Kate Trolove is the assistant coach. The Cavaliers narrowly missed out on the national championship final last year, finishing third. They go into the tournament on the back of two wins and a loss at the Ōtautahi Cup. The Canterbury Beavers, who won the men’s tier 2 competition last season, are favourites to win their grade again. They beat tier 1 defending champions Otago 4-2 at the Ōtautahi Cup last month. The Canterbury Barracudas will open their campaign against North Harbour on Sunday, and will be looking to improve on last year’s seventh-place. • For the full draw and results, go to www. hockeynz.altiusrt.com. • All turf 1 and St Paul’s games will be live-streamed at www.hockeynz.tv/sv/ home. FOCUS: Jaimee Eades is one of six new players in the Canterbury Cats squad this season. PHOTO: GEOFF SOPER PHOTOGRAPHY Light Bears prepare for under-85kg semi High School Old Boys’ Light Bears will play in their first-ever under-85kg National Club Cup rugby semi-final in Auckland on Saturday. They will face Grammar TEC Old Boys at Ōrākei Domain after their 26-19 quarter-final win over Auckland University Squids in Christchurch. Kick off will be at 2.45pm and live-score updated can be found at www.nzrugby. co.nz/teams-and-competitions/ national/under-85kg-club-cup Bulls face Vulcans in premiership The Canterbury Bulls will look to record their first win of the national league premiership against the Auckland Vulcans on Sunday. Kick off is at 2pm at Ngā Puna Wai. The side suffered a 44-0 loss to Counties Manukau in the first round over the weekend. The Bulls women’s side have a bye before they meet the Wellington Orcas on September 17. CGHS finish third at first XV champs Christchurch Girls’ High School finished third at the New Zealand Barbarians national first XV championship in Palmerston North over the weekend. The defending champions were forced to settle for bronze after their 36-12 loss in the semi-final on Friday to eventual champions Palmerston North school, Manukura. CGHS then defeated Mount Albert Grammar 15-5 on Sunday to finish on the podium. Club sevens makes a come back • By Jaime Cunningham A NEW South Island club sevens tournament is set to be hosted by Canterbury Rugby Union this November following a four-year absence of any competition due to Covid. Larry’s South Island club sevens will be played at University of Canterbury’s Ilam Fields on November 11 and 12, with both male and female grades on offer. The competition is a new initiative from New Zealand Rugby which CRFU offered to host, metro operations co-ordinator Georgia Calder-Lee said. “(It’s) a way to bring some sevens back to South Island players after the national provincial union tournament that used to occur pre-Covid was stopped,” she said. “South Island provincial unions used to compete in a regional tournament (which) would qualify them for the national one hosted by the Bay of Plenty.” It is an extension of Canterbury’s annual spring sevens series, which is still set to take place a week before on November 4 and 5. Calder-Lee said CRFU are hoping to get a “good uptake” of teams from outside the region for the South Island tournament. It is open to any club team from the South Island. There will be a $5000 prize pool up for grabs, while team entry is $150. Register at www.canterburyrugby.co.nz/si-club-sevens
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