THE New Zealand Barbarians hockey team successfully defended its Oceania Pacific Cup gold medal for the third consecutive year after beating Fiji 4-2 in the men's final at the National Hockey Centre yesterday.  It was an entertaining final as both teams kept their supporters on their toes with marvellous defensive and attacking skills during the game.

Fiji forced its way into the final with an upset 4-2 win over Australian Country in the semi-final. The Barbarians suffered a shock loss to the Australian Country in the final round robin but found its winning momentum flowing in the semi-finals.

(Article by Emoni Narawa writing in the Fiji Times Online 12 Dec 2010)  

PHOTO (Fiji Times) - Hector Smith (right) controls the ball against NZ Barbarians in the finals.

NZ Barbarians edged ahead when a penalty stroke was awarded to them and 15minutes later with a field goal

Current score - Fiji 2 NZ Barbarians 4

NZ Barbarians edge ahead to slot in their second score......not to be left behind the Fijians equalised moments later.

The gold medal playoffs between Fiji and the New Zealand Barbarians gets underway in a few minutes.  Defending champions the New Zealand Barbarians are hot favourites to win the gold.

The two sides faced off last year for the gold with the Barbarians coming out victorious.......

More news on this much anticipated guaranteed action packed men's final.

The Gold Medal will be traveling across the Tasman from the "Land of the Long White Cloud" to "Down Under".

This after the Aussies powered home to full time with three goals to the Maori's first goal.

Final Score Australia Country 3 New Zealand Maori 1

Australia Country are not giving up without a fight!  Current score NZ Maori 1 Australia Country 1

Defending womens champion New Zealand Maori's have taken the lead in the Gold Medal face off against Australia Country with a goal.

More news as it comes to hand!

Despite the effects of the Suva humidity Australia Country manage to get it together to put away five Bronze medal match against neighbours Papua New Guinea. 

Papua New Guinea's efforts to contain the 2009 Bronze Medalists finally gave in the second half to see them concede an additional four goals.

Australia Country will walk away with the Bronze Medal again.

The Fiji National Women's team struggle to find their form against the Fiji Presients XI with only a goal at half time.

Capitalising on a green card to Soko Salaniqiqi of the Fiji Presidents XI, Team Fiji finally got their act together and put away 2 goals to extend their lead to win the match.

Fiji Warriors lead Samoa 3 - 0 in the Men's Plate final, the last match of the day.

The Barbar's have sealed their berth in the Men's Gold Medal playoff against Fiji tomorrow.  The ended their match with a 10 goal lead ahead of the Papua New Guinea National Men's team.

Half Time Score:  NZ Barbarians 5 PNG 0

Australia Country women are on fire following there men's recent loss the game before to the Fiji Men.

The Aussie's sealed their spot in the Women's Gold Medal playoff's tomorrow against defending champions New Zealand Maori's.

The valiant Fiji Men's side have earned a well deserved win against visitng side Australia Country.  Winning 4 goals to 2.

Fiji will play the winner of the second men's semi-final betwee defending men's champions New Zealand Barbarians and Papua New Guinea

Visiting side Australia Country are still not out with another goal to them.......the Aussies are not giving up just yet.

Current score Fiji 4 Australia Country 2......more news as it happens!

James Saqalaca added took his teams points up a notch with another goal moments ago.  This could seal the deal for the Fiji Men's team where this match is concerned and Fiji's chances of playing for gold a reality!

Current score Fiji 4 Australia Country 1

A goal to Alsace Smith brings Fiji's tally to 3 goals to 1 and also ther eality of a gold medal playoff! Current score Fiji 3 Australia Country 1

Watch this spot for more news as it happens!

Fiji men ran in another goal to edge in front of Australian Country moments go.  However the visting team cannot be written off as they have been known to rise to the challenge of being behind.

Current score Fiji 2 Australian Country 0

At half time the host team are 1 all with the visiting Australian Country team.  With at least two green cards to both sides the match is a thriller! 

Australian Country are matching the Fiji Men pace for pace in an invigorating display of hockey.   The nail biting match is keeping supporters of both camps at the edge of their seats....

With even the normally sedate Coach Hector Smith scaling the fence of this corner barking instructions to his side.....

Watch this spot for more updates as they come in!

After trailing 1 goal to the visiting Australia Country.......Shaun Corrie and his men were awarded a Penalty Short Corner.

Leading the attack with a drag flick Shaun slotted in the equaliser to put his team back in the game.

Despite the intimidating war cries from the Fijian's Australian Country had the first say opening the score within 5minutes of their game......

Watch this spot for updates of the match.

Loosely translated......."my turf"-  Fiji Men sounded off a warning to visiting Australia Country that they would not go down without a fight during their semi-final match.

The host team performed their traditional Fijian war challenge also known as the "cibi" patting the ground and chanting "noqu rara"........and ending with an energetic war cry to set the tone for the match.

More news as it happens!

Defending champions Maori outplayed their hosts Fiji to put away five unanswered goals.  Rhiannon Dennison was the toast of the Maori team with four goals and a lone goal from Kayla Murray.

Fiji's Rita Taito and Neini Narokolevu came close to opening up the score board but were unable to capitalise on their opportunities.

Final score NZ Maori 5 Fij 0 the Maori's now proceed to the gold medal playoff tomorrow.

PNG women had a strong outting this morning against the Samoan National team.  Two goals from Ilan Brooksbank helped seal their win a small consolation following their loss to Fiji yesterday.

Fiji extended their lead in the second half by 4 goals to nil against Pacific Games archrivals PNG.  Despite the showery conditions the host team worked well to widen the lead they had at half time by an additional 7 goals.

The two womens team's last faced-off at the 2007 Pacific Games in Samoa where Fiji came out victorious winning the Gold.

More news as it happens!

Despite the damp conditions the Barbar's look on target to defend their coveted title as defending OPC champions.  With a 3 goal lead within 25 minutes of their game.

The match had to be prematurely stopped due to the unfavourable weather conditions.  Final score PNG 0 NZ Barbarians 0

Australia Country are well and truly ahead of the Pacific neighbours Samoa with the 11 points they've managed to record so far in their current match.

To their credit the Samoans continue to persevere despite the unfavourable odds and weather conditions.

Watch this spot to see if Samoa manage to score!

The Australia Country/Samoa men's match has been brought to a premature end after mutual agreement due to the heavy rain. 

The next scheduled match Australia Country/Samoa women will resume at 2.45pm provided the weather conditions improve.

The Australia Country/Samoan Men's game came to a complete stand still due to a down pour of heavy rain at the half time whistle.

Officials are unsure at this point when the surface will be playable again.

According to the Fiji Meteorological Service the down pour is due to an active trough of low pressure with associated cloud and rain slowly moving over the Fiji group. 

Aussies off to a strong start with nine consecutive goals in their match against the Samoan National Team.

After being held to a scoreless draw for 25 minutes.

Arihia Ingle and Rhiannon Dennison helped their team finish ahead of the Fiji Presidents XI at half time with a goal each.

The Presidents XI sole response was a goal from Lala Ravatu. 

In the second half the Maori's came out firing with an additional two goals to seal another win for them.

The Presidents XI had to console themselves with another goal but this wasn't enough for a win.

The Fiji Warriors defeated Samoa 6-0 after two consecutive losses at the National Hockey Centre. The Fijians scored the first four goals before halftime. In the first three minutes Martin Fong scored the Warriors first goal after taking a quick shot right from the centre of the goalmouth. In the 6th minute Suliano Natadra scored Fiji’s second goal, Alex Robertson scored the third goal in the 14th minute and Willie Baleinabuli scored in the 17th minute.

Martin scored the sixth goal for Fiji Warriors in the 58th minute and Suliano Natadra scored Fiji’s last goal in the 63rd minute.  Fiji spectators turned out in large numbers to support the Fiji Warriors yesterday.

(Article & photo from Fiji Sun online 9th December 2010)

After completing the first half with a four goal lead the Fiji Men started the second half well with three addtional goals to extend their points to 7 goals.

The Warriors managed to settle to put away two goals, unfortunately the warriors ran out of time and were unable to reduce the comfortable margin that the Fiji Men had gained.

FORMER Fiji athletics champion Soko Salaniqiqi played an aggressive game for the Fiji President XI women's hockey team and scored a hat-trick in the game against PNG at the Oceania Pacific Cup Hockey tournament yesterday.  Fiji won 5-0. 

Salaniqiqi grabbed her first goal in the 10th minute before Alison Southey was successful with a penalty in the 24th minute.  The Taka Newton-coached side stormed past PNG but will face a tough game against the Fiji Women's team at 9am.Iva Vunikura scored the President XI's third goal before Salaniqiqi rounded off her hat-trick in the 30th and 47th minute of play.

(Article by Emoni Narawa in Fiji Times Online 8th December 2010)

New Zealand Barbar's extended their lead to a comfortable 3 point margin after a thrilling encounter and a half time score of 3 points to 2.

The Barbar's later added 2 more to their tally to sit at a comfortable 5 points to 2.....

More news soon!

Australia Country successfully thwarted the New Zealand Maori's campagin to retain their OPC Women's title.  

Amidst fervent vocal support Karla Temporali and Holli Wheeler sealed their teams semi-final berth which brings them a step closer to a shot at the main title.

In a repeat of the 2009 OPC final, NZ Maori Women met Australia Country in the day's second last match.

Fiji Warriors trounce the Samoan National Men's Team to secure their first win......despite this Samoa continued to work tirelessly under the scorching heat.

Samoa were off to a good start with a goal from Lelava Laupepa to edge ahead of PNG.  This goal also ended the Samoan women's two year drought with their first goal in their second Oceania Pacific Cup Tournament.

Ruby Kisapai and Piwen Kanamon answered with two goals each to seal the game for Papua New Guinea.

Australian Country in a comfortable lead after running in three quick goals to end their game with a seven goal vcitory. 

Fiji women earlier today beat their sister team convincingly scoring their first goal in the second minute of their match and running in an additional 6 scores and conceding a lone goal to the Fiji Presidents side.

Fiji hold off Aussies to a one all draw on Day 3.  Australia Country leading with a field goal and Fiji equalising 8 minutes later with a field goal.

Aussies hold on to win 3 points to 2.  Despite Fiji's two successive goals to put them back into the game this was not enough to edge the visitors.

Watch this site for how each team progresses.............

Australian Country 3 Fiji 2

Fiji sink two quick successive goals to put them back on track to the delight of Fiji supporters.......

More updates soon!

Aussie's take the lead in a fast paced highly intense match.......Half time score Australian Country 2 Fiji 0

Fiji Men are finally put to the test with their first big match!  Shaun Corrie and his men have a big task ahead of them against the fusion of experience and youth from down under.......

Fiji sound off a challenge with the traditional war chant the Cibi......to start off the much anticipated encounter......

The Mighty Maoris steam roll ahead!  A spirited Samoan effort was not enough to contain a Maori onslaught.  The defending champions led seven goals to nil at half time.

Later rocketing to a tally of 15 goals at full time. 

More results as they come in.

Under a sunny blue sky defending champions NZ Maori's look sharp and focused on the task at hand - Samoa's National Women's Team.

Though relatively new as opposed to the more experienced Maori side Samoa could put up a good challenge.

Watch this spot for more details......

The Presidents XI having a good outting with a comfortable lead ahead of PNG...

Barbar's score eight more goals in the second half to seal a very comfortable win against the host Presidents XI.....watch this spot for more details of this match.

PNG Men show good form with a convincing win against Pacific neighbours Samoa with a victory this morning.

With 2 field goals and 2 short corners scored as follows:

34th minute Andrew Potuan

51st minute John Isininii

55th minute Sapau Tapo

70th minute Joseph Potuan

The Presidents XI having a good outting with a comfortable lead ahead of PNG...

A shakey Fiji defense break the defensive line  during the Maoris first short corner attempt unfortunately for Fiji the Maoris experience prevail with them converting this opportunity to score goal number 3 of the game.

Emi Nawaqakuta "skidding" in  Fij'si second goal in what has turned out to be a riveting match.  Keeping spectators on the edge of their seats.

Unfortunately this was not enough to beat the defending champs!

Defending champions New Zealand Maoris equalise in the 20th minute of the second half to send Fiji backtracking!

The much settled Maori team look hungry for more goals.....keeping Fiji defenders on their toes and making unforced errors.

The Maoris start to use the length and width of the field strategically to their advantage.

After ending the first half one goal down the Maoris came out with all guns blazing penetrating Fiji's goal mouth and missing a few good attempts at goal.

Fiji's resilient defense manage to keep the Maori attack at bay........for how long?  Watch this spot for more news!

The National Hockey Centre finally came alive this afternoon when Fiji finally sink their first goal against defending champions New Zealand Maoris to end the first half in the lead.

Fiji missed an earlier opportunity with a short corner attemp.  However, Team Fiji can't rest on their laurels as the defending champions have been known to return and end a game in their favour after trailing a match.

Fiji Women break the line many times during their first encounter but are still unable to score.  The defending champions show great composure and hold their line quite easily to container the fast pacing Neini Narokolevu and Cecilia Tokona led forwards of Fiji.

So far the game is still nil all after 7 mins of play.......watch this spot for updates......

Featuring a youth filled team the defending champions New Zealand Maori look sharp and ready to take on the host team.......

Watch this spot for updates of the upcoming match which begins in 5 minutes.......

The Shaun Corrie led side beat their island counter parts Samoa moments ago with a convincing 9 nil victory this afternoon at the National Hockey Centre.