Event News

Day One: Tuesday 24 May 2005

Day one of competition was completed in front of a capacity crowd of enthusiastic supporters at the SOP Sports Halls who enjoyed the Opening Ceremony performance of the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders represented by "Aunty Cindy" and her grand-daughter "Billy". A wonderfully sung opening song was followed by an interactive sing-a-long with plenty of body and arm movement to get everyone in the mood for handball.

After a nervous start, (as indicated by the closeness of the scores at half-time), the New Caledonian team was able to finally open up a comfortable gap and defeat Tahiti Nui  21:15 in the opening match of the Tournament. The match was marred by an unfortunate injury to one of Tahiti Nui's leading players, Vaitiare Pani who will take no more part in the Pacific Cup.

In the second match of the night, the Australians opened up a handy lead (10:1) before the New Zealanders staged a bit of a comeback. Unfortunately it was not to last and the Australian team piled on the goals through many fast-break actions in the second half to win the match 38:12.

The New Zealand team suffered a blow with injuries to two players, and, similarly to the Tahiti Nui team, may lose a player for the rest of the tournament due to the severity of their injuries.

Caitlin Wynne must have set a new record for the shortest time on court when she made contact with an opposing player that displeased the referees and earned her a red card. Caitlin later said that the contact was accidental but, unfortunately for her, the International Handball Federation has issued strict guidelines to referees to stamp out dangerous play and given the referees a mandate to disqualify any player attacking the neck or head of an opponent by tightening up Rule 8.

Day Two: Wednesday 25 May 2005

New Zealand and Tahiti Nui proved to be two very evenly matched teams in their clash on day 2. Locked at 6:6 at half time the game see-sawed with neither team able to break away and the lead changing hands several times until New Zealand finally won 14:13. Top scorer for New Zealand was one of the daughters of Vern Winitana, President of the Oceania and New Zealand Handball Federations, Marie Winitana with 7 goals.

Australia's claim as favorites to win the Pacific Cup was put to the test in an enthralling battle with New Caledonia. Despite getting off to a healthy lead of 5:1, the New Caledonians replied with some consistent attacking and helped by 6 individual goals in the first half scored by Claudia Heafala, they led by 10:9 at the break.

The Australians appeared to be hurry most of their attacks and wasted many clear opportunities to score throughout the game. An unbroken run of 7 goals by the Aussies eventually opened up a lead that the New Caledonian team could not overcome. Australia winners by 26:16.

Day Three: Thursday 26 May 2005

New Caledonia v New Zealand - another strong performance from Erica Heafala from New Caledonia with 8 goals and from Marie Winitana for New Zealand scoring 4 goals. Erica now leads the Top Scorer list with 22 goals from 3 matches, averaging almost 8 goals per game. New Caledonia clung to a slender 1 goal lead at half-time before scoring three unanswered goals early in the second half. That short burst proved to be the difference with the two teams trading goals until the final score of 19:16 in favour of New Caledonia was reached.

Tahiti Nui got off to a very slow start against Australia and the Aussies soon led 8:1. Despite a stronger performance for the remaining part of the first half, Tahiti Nui was down 7:16 at half-time. Two further bursts of four unanswered goals ensured a victory for Australia by 29:15, giving them a handy lead in the Pacific Cup Tournament. The Australians are now assured of a finals berth, with New Caledonia and New Zealand both needing wins tomorrow to secure a place in the final. Caitlin Wynne must have had a strong sense of Deja Vu when the referee pulled out both his cards early in the game and it appeared that he was about to give her a red card! Fortunately for her the referee showed her the yellow card and she went on to score 4 goals in the match.

Day Four: Friday 27 May 2005

The second round of the Oceania World Championship Qualification Tournament (and Handball Tasman Cup) series between Australia and New Zealand and the second round of the French Pacific Handball Cup between New Caledonia and Tahiti. With all matches counting towards the Handball Pacific Cup, there was pressure on all teams to win and stay in the running for the Championship.

Tahiti fought back from their earlier defeat at the hands of the New Caledonians and won their first match of the tournament. However, the New Caledonians secured the French Pacific Handball Cup on goal difference. Tahiti narrowly missed out on finishing second in the Handball Pacific Cup table which would have earned them a spot in the finals against Australia.

The Aussies continued on their winning way by beating New Zealand and winning both the Handball Tasman Cup series and their place at the 2005 World Championship to be held in Russia.

Day Five: Saturday 28 May 2005

Tahiti and New Zealand played off for the bronze medal and Tahiti continued with their good form from the previous night to secure third place in the Handball Pacific Cup.

Australia played New Caledonia in the final. With a substantial lead in the first half, the Aussies allowed some of their "juniors" to get more court time in the second half. New Caledonia managed to hold Australia to 12:12 in the second half but the lead was insurmountable and the Australians won the Championship convincingly, not losing a game in the tournament.

A first for Oceania with the naming of an "All-Star" team based on votes from the coaches, who were not allowed to nominate their own players.

A good crowd was in attendance to witness the conclusion of a well-run and enjoyable tournament. 

Examples of Media Coverage of Handball Pacific Cup 2005

"Sisters on the Ball" Printed in the Northern District Times SPORTS section on Wednesday 1 June 2005. Article by Brad Earl.

The article by Brad Earl features a story about the two sisters in the Australian Team: Lilly and Yvette Maher.