Wright goes in with Blue.  Corner 2 response from Landrebe (Red).  Wright hits his partner, and leaves a rush to Corner 2.

Landrebe hits Blue with Yellow, rushing off south boundary.  He rushes Black towards corner 2, but gets no rush on Red to Hoop 1.  He rushes Red to Corner 3, and takes off short to Hoop 1.  Not a bad effort, but there's no points for being nearly right.  He joins up, leaving Blue and Black boundaried.

Wright shoots at the oppo with Black from corner 2-ish.  He misses, and Landrebe takes the rush down to Blue.  All balls are in play, and he has a rush to Hoop 1.

Peter, optimistically, is the only player wearing sunglasses.

A 30 minute hiatus, as my InterWeb connection goes down.

Peter makes Hoop 1, and fails hoop 2.  Michael shoots and misses into corner 2.  Peter runs the hoop, shoots at Black in the corner, and gets the break to 4-back.

Michael lifts the Hoop 2 ball of the NSL and misses.  Peter fails to reach Hoop 2, and comes back to the east boundary.  Red has a longish rush on Yellow, Black misses Blue into corner 1.  Blue is between 1 and 2, level with Hoop 5.

Peter takes the rush, and Yellow smacks into the back of Hoop 4.  All is not lost - he just needs the rush on Blue.

Not the best of approach shots, as Blue goes off the lawn.  Michael Wright shoots Blue towards Black at Hoop 3.  Another miss.

Landrebe shoots Red at Hoop 2 at Yellow, short of Hoop 4.  Another miss.

Grim stuff.

Wright finally hits Black at Blue on the boundary.  He takes off to Red near corner 4.

He goes off.  Landrebe's back on.

Peter's approaching Hoop 5, with lots of balls around 4-back.

One peel on Yellow, and a blob at 1-back.  Michael gets his first innings.

Wright goes to 4-back, with an NSL.  Peter lifts the Hoop 4 ball, shoots down the east boundary and misses.

Michael is off and running again, and is roqueting his Hoop 2 pioneer.

His style is more effective than it is elegant.  He plays hunched over the ball, with an Irish grip holding the mallet halfway down.  Arms very rigid, and I don't fully understand how it works, but it does.

Wright is lining up his first peel one the way to Hoop 6.  It wriggles through.

Wright bt Landrebe +10TP.

That was a long time coming, but an efficient end break.

Game Two

Peter (Black) goes east, and Michael (Red) puts a duffer tice very slightly past Hoop 6.  Peter shoots down the long boundary, and misses.  Michael hits the tice, and is having a leave.

Ball kinda somewhere near Hoop 1, and ditto at Hoop 2.  Peter misses, and Michael's break is underway.

Wright goes to 4-back, with another NSL.  Looks like they're coming off for a lunch break.

Landrebe shoots which Black from the end of A-baulk.  He hits oppo, and is looking for a rush on the hoopbound Blue ball.

All looks nice for Peter, as he's approaching Hoop 5 with some tidy control.

It may be a B-spread leave, but it's a very good one.

Red is tight on the east boundary by Hoop 4; Yellow is four inches from the peg, but open on everything; Blue and Black are just out of Corner 2, with a reverse rush towards the corner.

Michael lifts Red and shoots at Blue, missing.

Peter cuts Red southwards, and sends it to Hoop 3, rushing Yellow back to Black, and Black to Hoop 1.

Some clever shots there from Peter.  The cross-court half roll to land on Yellow's rushline was possibly the shot of the day.  Shame that I was the only person who saw it.

That shot took this from a reasonable three ball break to a laid standard triple.

Peter's pioneer to Hoop 6 (Yellow) is too good, and he has to call a referee to check he hits it from a yard alongside.

No problem.

Red is a foot from 1-back.  Yellow's a foot from Penult, and he's peeling from right in front.  He dribbles it, and it takes the left wire, rocking back onto the right wire. 

Peter gets the Penult peel, reaches Penult himself, and then somehow contrives to leave Black and Red in contact near the hoop.  He puzzles at how to organise these so that the peelee goes south, leaving him a rush on the other.  Disaster averted, and he gets down to Rover with a standard straight peel situation. 

Landrebe beats Wright + 17TP

Game Three

Same old thing.  Wright (R&Y) starts, Landrebe takes the second corner.  Wright hits partner on the third turn, and leaves a rush pointing at Black in Corner 2.  Landrebe misses.

Fast forward a couple of turns - Wright (Red) is making Hoop 1 off Black with Blue near Hoop 2 and Yellow near Hoop 3. 

Need I describe Wright's leave?  Blue on the east boundary, Black on Hoop 4, Yellow with a rush on Red.

Landrebe lifts the Hoop 4 ball, and misses from B-baulk.

Who saw this coming?  Wright gets a nice delayed TP position - Blue at 4-back and Black at 5.  He's approaching Hoop 4 from six inches with Yellow off Red (the peelee), and leaves them in contact.

Yellow is blocked from the hoop by Red, so he scatters Yellow out to the boundary.

Landrebe calls the ref on, and Don Williamson gives the hoop a bit of a tap.

He shoots Black at Blue and misses.  Wright shoots Yellow at Red (six yarder) and barely hits.  Just as well, as he didn't want to nudge Red too far from the hoop.

Michael Wright is enclipping the peg, as he takes Yellow all the way.  He gives a diagonal, with Blue at the peg, and Black very short - only about seven yards beyond.

Landrebe lifts the Blue.  The position : 4-back and peg vs 1 and 1.

Lots of lawnside practising, to no avail, as it's a miss at Black from B-baulk.

Landrebe's only hope now - Wright is hampered after Penult.

Michael Wright beats Peter Landrebe +10TP, -17TP, +26

It turns out the hampered shot was trivial.  Not a pretty match, but a never-in-doubt result, as Landrebe failed to get going in the decider.

Much congratulations for Wright from the rest of the team.  The All Blacks look very pleased, with a current lead of 7-3.