Mainland Canoe Polo

Justice and Victory - National League Finals 2005 - Open A Grade

New Zealand Canoe Polo's 2005 National League competition was contested over 11 weeks, starting at Easter and culminating in the National League finals at the Naenae Olympic pool over Queen's Birthday weekend. In the Open A grade, the Mainland region was represented by two clubs fielding 3 teams: Nautique from Nelson, with Justice and Bailiffs from Burnside Canoe Polo Club in Christchurch.

Bailiffs entered the finals tournament ranked in the bottom half of the 10-team draw, a draw that was structured to favour the higher-ranked teams, based on the North and South Island conference build-up series. Bailiffs went through some close games but thanks to a never-say-die attitude - and some steadiness from the more experienced players - they were able to work their way up to finish in the top half of the draw, knocking over some more highly-favoured teams such as Auckland's Kaos on the way. Bailiffs finished 5th, ahead of all but the 'big four' teams: fellow club members Justice, Wellington's Knights, and Palmerston North's Expos� and Vikings, the defending champions.

Justice entered the tournament ranked at the top of the South Island Conference and prepared to face hard games in every encounter. The team was certainly there to compete as seriously as possible, after being cruelly robbed of victory by Vikings in the 2004 final. The tournament started well with a satisfying win against Vikings 7-1 and, hungry for more, a win against Knights 10-2. The second day's play saw some reality reasserted with a loss to Expos� (a team which was in fact comprised largely of the previous year's Vikings), 4-6. Later in the day Justice again met Vikings and won convincingly, 7-0, followed by a closer game against the Knights, winning 5-4 in a game where the Knights concentrated more on protecting their goal difference than attacking to draw or win. In the evening was a high-scoring and entertaining game against Expos� resulting in a 6-6 draw.

By this time the business end of the tournament was approaching and it seemed apparent that Expos� and Justice were the most likely teams to meet in the final. However an upset win by Vikings against Expos�, along with some other close results for Expos� meant that Justice and Vikings were the two teams qualifying at the top of the grade. In the major semi-final, Justice again were victorious over Vikings, scoring 7 goals against them for the third time to win 7-0 and advance straight to the final. Expos� fought their way back to qualify for the final as well, with Vikings eventually losing both to Expos� and to Knights to finish 4th, with Knights 3rd.

In the grand final, although not scoring first, Justice managed to hold a lead through most of the match, getting to two goals up with a couple of minutes to go. Even a last-minute goal from Expos� was not enough to stop Justice winning the final 5-4. Justice were then able to take the National League silverware and title back to Christchurch and make some amends for the previous year's disappointment. It was a passionate, hard-fought final, and there was certainly some relief along with the elation for the Justice players at the end of it. The players were happy to see Vikings continue the tradition of the previous year's winners providing a suitable bottle of champagne for the new title-holders to share from the sizable National League cup, but are keen to encourage the related tradition (which, alas, does not yet seem to have taken hold) of also cleaning the cup before parting with it.

Justice, A-grade winners at NL Finals 2005

Justice, A-grade winners at NL Finals 2005

Justice, 2005 National League winners, minutes after their victory in the final against Expos�. From left to right: Tom Neilson, Ben Leith, Alastair Rose, Jimmy Sewell, Nick Burnett, Dean Mischewski. Out of the frame is coach Dave Taylor.

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