Tournament Report

The Tournament was concluded in Dunedin from August 21st-24th inclusive, and it was a most successful one from every point of view. Our congratulations go to Otago University for their excellent organisation both in competition and in entertainment, and for their all-round performance in winning the Tournament Shield. The hospitality of the Dunedinites was indeed such that it may well have been a concerted and underhand way making us hors de combat, although their own active participation in all that was going rather precludes this view.

Victoria brought back the Wooden Spoon once more, but this does not in any way reflect in a bad light upon our representatives whose performance on the whole was creditable. Nevertheless, there are certain valuable lessons to be learnt for future tournaments and which should not be soon forgotten.

The first and most important is that Victoria is not predestined to tail the field in everything they take on; and indeed had the spirit of those few who were just not interested in doing their part for the College been as keenly conscientious as those who did compete—and in some cases with considerable personal sacrifice and expense—the result might well have been very different. When competitors are willing even to take a week of their annual leave in order to be able to attend and compete at the Tournament, we are witnessing a spirit which, should it become more universal, would prove to be a major factor in higher placings in Tournament competitions.

A further point to be noted is the necessity for strong teams in at least one of the three major events. (Men's and Women's Hockey and Soccer) 21 Shield points are awarded to each of these events, and should a College not gain 1st or 2nd placings, there is little chance of winning the Shield no matter how well they do in the other events.

Shield points were gained by all except one of the V.U.C. teams, and (in addition to Drama) wins were recorded in Fencing and Shooting—an effort better than some that have been made in previous Tournaments, but one that still leaves room for improvement in future years, as the placings in one or two sports this year was lower than had been expected.

Shooting: A close contest was had with the Otago team, V.U.C. emerging winners of the I.C.I. Shield on a count back of the inners, points scored being V.U.C., 777.40, Otago 777.34. All 5 members gained places in the North Island and N.Z.U. Teams, J. R. Fletcher, gaining a possible in the N.Z.U. Shoot. Congratulations to Brian Perry for his N.Z.U. Blue and for gaining the highest individual score (198) out of a possible 200.

The Team—B. Perry, J. Fletcher, J. Hogg, M. Martin-Smith and H. McKay.

Fencing—The all round performance of the V.U.C. Team was very good wins being recorded in both the Men's and Women's events. Pete Hampton and Wyn Stevens fought well to gain places in the N.Z.U. Team and both were awarded well deserved N.Z.U. Blue. A pleasing feature was the performance of R. Michael, and Miss G. Burrell in their first year of Tournament fencing, and the experience should prove of value to them for future Tournaments. Gill Burrell is to be congratulated on winning the Women's Event in her 1st year of fencing against more experienced and older competitors.

The Team:—B. P. Hampton, W. Stevens. I. Bennett. R. Michael, Miss J. and G. Burrell.

Drama:—A pleasant evenings entertainment was provided on the Tuesday evening by the Drama Festival, when V.U.C. gained the honours for the second year in succession. The play presented ("The Long Xmas Dinner" by Thornton Wilder) differed from those produced by the other colleges in that the emphasis was not on sex, but this was in no way a handicap: the players made a very good job of a difficult play, and received very fair comment from the judges.

The Cast: Misses M. Ross-Smith. A. Cook. P. Lusk, A. McLeod. and E. Oliver, T. Bayler. J. Yaldwyn and B. Hamlin.

Basketball: In this section of Tournament V.U.C. did not quite live up to its expectations and the team came home not a little disappointed. With a last minute alteration before the team went South we lost our tallest player, and set out to try and recover the Cup with a team of average height of 5'9"—the shortest team at tournament by far. Our first three games were won reasonably easily, although Massey gave us more than a run for our money, v. Massey 49-41. v. O.U. "B" 66-28, v. A.U.C. 55-42.

We showed every team a lesson in team co-ordination but met our match against the individual brilliance of O.U. "A." They were all big men (average height about 6'1"); and although the game was closer than the scores indicated, they were clear cut winners 46-29.

After a little over an hour's rest we took the court against CUC, and a totally exhausted Vic. team was toppled once more in a very unspectacular game 30-47.—thus relegating V.U.C. to 3rd position in the Basketball supremacy.

This was not a true indication of V.U.C. and with all due respects to Canty on more equal terms the scores would have been reversed. This was born out by the personnel of the N.Z.U. team which was composed entirely of O.U. and V.U.C. players. This team beat the Otago representatives 39-31.

The Vic. Team was: S. Moral (Capt.) P. Tarrant, F. Simmons, E. Swindale, S. [unclear: Nsak], B. Compton, P. Anderson, I. Corkill.

Our congratulations go to B. Compton, S. Moral, F. Simmons and P. Tarrant who gained places in the N.Z.U. A team.

Men's Hockey: This was a team that had the personnel to provide some spirited opposition to the other Colleges, although their chances were some-what lessened by the absence from Tournament of one or two of their leading players who might well have swung the balance in our favour in the games against Canterbury and Otago particularly the latter game. Wins were recorded against Auckland and Massey, and although the team did not settle down too well in the opening games they showed touches of their true form which unfortunately lacked the finishing touches. They finished third, but the team has bright prospects for next years Tournaments, if most of them are eligible again and the strongest team can be encouraged to compete if passible.

The Team: B. Mansfield. D. Fitzgerald, C. Brinsley, C. Watson, P. Armstrong, N. Compton, A. McLean, B. Walsh, A. Gordon, G. Oakes. A. Cryer. P. Chatwin.

Women's Hockey: The Vic. team contained quite a number of young players for many of whom this was the first Tournament attended. It was not recognised as a strong team but performed well to defeat Massey and Auckland, but went down to the greater experience of Canterbury and Otago, particularly the latter team whose number included six representative players. Even so the game was by no means one-sided, our girls holding the score at 2-1 till shortly before full-time when Otago added another two goals in quick succession. The brightest side of the play is that the team was for the most part a young one with several Tournaments ahead of them and the experience gained against better players should bear fruit. Congratulations to B. Young and G. Francis who gained selection in the N.Z.U. Team.

The Team: M. Richmond, B. Haldane, D. Stucliff, P. Barr. R. Oderkerk. S. Kingden, L. Holland, J. Francis. B. Young (Capt.), J. McKelvie. J. Young, G. Francis, S. Francis.

Soccer: With all due respects to players concerned, this was possibly the "weak" spot in V.U.C.'s defence not through any poor display by the competitors, but merely that they were in most cases outclassed, particularly from the point of view of combination. The University "A" team was very poorly represented at Tournament, with only three of its regular players competing. The rest of the team being made up of 2nd and 3rd XI players. Injuries also took their toll amongst the players, the result being that the team never really settled down and played as such, which once again stresses the necessity of the prospective Tournament team playing together throughout the season as far as this is practicable. With this in view, it may be stated that the team did their best, and played in no way discreditably: wins were recorded against Massey and Lincoln, and the margins in the other games were small which suggests that the V.U.C. team at full strength might well have had things their own way.

The Team: D. Robinson, S. Seagar, K. Bliss, B. Compton, A. Lonergan, C. McCann, H. Robinson, G. Dewhurst, G. Watson, E. Thompson, S. Webster, B. McFarlane, J. Howett.

Cross Country Running: The performance of the Harrier Teem was perhaps a little disappointing both to themselves and to supporters, although they were up against strong opposition in the excellent Auckland Team which filled 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th places, and the Massey Team which beat them into second place by 2 points. Bob Hunt tho, not up to time form ran well to fill second place, but the other runners did not seem to take kindly to the course and failed to reproduce their best form seen on occasions during the season. J. Goodwin being 11th with D. Warnock (16th) and M. Matheson (18) further back to constitute the first 4 Vic men "home."

The Team: R. Hunt, J. Goodwin, J. Mawson, M. Truebridge, M. Matheson, D. Warnock, E. Abraham.

Table Tennis: This team was perhaps the unknown quantity of Tournament, and played very well indeed to more than fulfil expectations. Although they finished third, they were amongst the finalists in the Men's and Women's Doubles and the Combined Doubles, and drew with A.U.C. The final of the Teams Knock-out; had they won this latter event, they would have won the table-tennis competitions and thus gained a further five points towards the Shield, but this was unfortunately not to be.

The Team: O. Collins (Capt.) H. Lampden-Smith, Viv. Fleming, Ivy Smith.

It is significant that Otago and Victoria were the only colleges to gain placings in six out of the seven official sports Auckland gaining its 26 points entirely from three sports which it won. Thus very little more was needed to ensure for Victoria a higher placing and even the winning of the Shield—shall we say 2nd placings in Basketball, Men's and Women's Hockey instead of 3rd, and a placing in Soccer.

This is pure speculation, but it offers a lesson that should encourage everyone to make a greater effort to support their College, and to place Tournament high in their list of sporting commitments.

Concerning internal arrangements, I can just say that an earlier and more active co-operation by some clubs would be appreciated: Club Secretaries were circularised regularly with details of arrangements but the response in some cases was not such as to give much support to your Delegates. Competitors are reminded that proofs of the V.U.C. Team Photographs are now in the Executive Room, and copies may be ordered there.

—D.B.H.

(Apologies for the mistake over the Spoon. Neither Sports Editor was responsible: our information was faulty and it all amounted to little [unclear: more] than easy and wishful acceptance of what we were told. The mistake was corrected last issue: we were aware of it after printing the error, but too late to alter it.

—Ed.)