The Opposition

This years victory, unlike Auckland's last year, was not a runaway one. Competition was very close between Victoria. Auckland and Otago, and at one stage it looked as if the skiing results would be the deciding factor. With skiing a stronghold of Canterbury, it looked as if Victoria was going to dip out sadly.

However, the VUW fencers put the issue beyond doubt in a fighting finish that won them the fencing title and gave Victoria an unassailable lead.

The last match of the fencing, VUW versus CU in the men's sabre, was the crucial one.

Tournament results at that point were so close that if this match had been lost, gone also would have been Victoria's chances of winning the shield.

The fencers knew this, and it was a sight worth seeing as they methodically outfought the CU fencers, who stood no show at all.

The scene was tense with Zoltan Apathi getting grimmer and grimmer as his successes mounted, Dave Hurley pacing up and down nearly biting his finger nails, and David Lind Mitchell seemingly unaffected by the tension, winning his fights from positions of near defeat.

These were the "gentlemen and scholars" who sealed the victory for Victoria.