Triple Triumph – New Zealand brings home three gold medals from the Masters Trans-Tasman Challenge

The Trans-Tasman Challenge has wrapped up in Cairns, Australia, where 17 New Zealand Masters teams - comprising of nine men's teams and eight women's teams—battled it out against our longstanding rivals, Australia, with each team playing a three-match series.

Although Australia claimed the overall Trans-Tasman Trophy, our New Zealand teams delivered some standout performances. Victories were secured in the Women’s 035, Women’s 040, and Women’s 070 categories, with the third and final matches in the Women’s & Men’s 055 and 065 age groups all coming down to ‘decider’ games.

The Women’s 040 and Women’s 070 groups were especially close, with the winners decided by goal count. Both our Women’s teams edged out the Aussies by just one goal, bringing home the bling.

While the spotlight rightly shines on the medal wins, there were other standout moments worth celebrating. Around 70 players made their debut across our teams – most notably on the men’s side. It’s a promising sign of growing depth, which bodes well with the 2026 World Cups on the horizon.

We also had a strong contingent of officials representing New Zealand, with several making their international debuts—Steven Dyhrberg, Vivienne Dyhrberg, Martin Prout, Bill Hartnell, and Ray Close (as an Umpire Coach). They were joined by a number of returning officials including Matthew Jones, David Oakley, Glen Taylor, Emma Bromell, Kirsten Smith, Nano Tunnicliff, Danny Walker, and Technical Officials Caroline Bigham, and Bill Hartnell.

Overall Results:

Women 035: (0-0) (2-3) (1-5) Overall winner NZ

Men 035: (3-2) (4-2) (6-1) - Overall winner Australia

Women 040: (1-4) (2-0 (3-3) - Overall winner NZ

Men 040: (7-0) (7-0) (9-0) - Overall winner Australia

Women 045: (4-0) (2-0) (4-0) - Overall winner Australia

Men 045: (3-0) (4-0) (2-0) - Overall winner Australia

Women 050: (3-1) (2-0) (2-1) - Overall winner Australia

Men 050: (9-1) (1-1) (8-0) - Overall winner Australia

Women 055: (2-0) (0-0) (4-2) - Overall winner Australia

Men 055: (4-2) (1-5) (2-0) - Overall winner Australia

Women 060: (1-0) (3-0) (3-0) - Overall winner Australia

Men 060: (4-1) (2-0) (3-2) - Overall winner Australia

Women 065: (2-1) (1-1) (2-0) - Overall winner Australia

Men 065: (1-1) (3-0) (6-1) - Overall winner Australia  

Women 070: (0-0) (1-0) (0-2) - Overall winner NZ

Men 070: (7-0) (7-0) (9-0) - Overall winner Australia

Men 075: (4-1) (3-1) (2-1) - Overall winner Australia

Our New Zealand Masters teams can be proud of their efforts, with special congratulations to the three women’s teams that clinched victories in their categories!