Trans Tasman 2006 Report

From the outset the NZ team knew that it faced strong opposition. The Australian team contained current Australian champ Andrew Fisher. He is a former winner of the British National Champs and is co-author of the book "How to Win at Scrabble". Then there were former Australian champs Bob Jackman and Naween Fernando. Chris May, the individual TT champ in 2004 was in the team again, as well as former Trans Tasman team stalwarts Alistair Kane, Trevor Halsall Julian McKail and Anne Drew. The team was completed by four newcomers who have made significant progress in the Australian ratings recently - Michael Hornung, Richard Jeremy, Russell Honeybun and David Lowden (who was a late replacement for Rod Talbot).

The New Zealand contained 5 people who have played in all previous TransTasman challenges - Jeff Grant, Howard Warner, Peter Sinton, Patrick Carter and Glennis Hale. The one newcomer to the NZ team was Joanne Craig, who represented Australia at the last TT, and also qualified to represent them this year.

The tournament was played in accordance with New Zealand national rules. There are a number of key differences between Australian and NZ rules that meant that the Australians needed to adjust - particularly the challenge rule (in Australia there is no penalty for incorrect challenges). The tile drawing rule also came as a surprise when it was drawn to the attention of players on the second day after officials observed that players from both teams were not complying with it.

First score sheet in – Mike beat Chris May 384-326. The round ended up even on 6 wins to each team, with Lynne Butler in the lead on spread. In the 2nd round, 3 Australian wins came in first followed quickly by three New Zealand wins. The Aussies ended up in front to be in the lead by 2 wins at the end of the round. Interestingly, all the Australians were on 1 win each at the end of round 2. Rogelio Talosig (NZ) had a hard luck story in his game against David Lowden. He was in front by 1 point at the end of the game, but he went over time and lost 10 penalty points, to lose by 9 points. Debbie Caldwell (NZ) had a 5 point win over Naween Fernando, who lost 5 points on a challenge.

At lunch after 4 games NZ were 6 wins in front, following a 9/3 round to them in round 4. In the individual lead were Jeff Grant and Howard Warner (NZ) who had won all their games. Andrew Fisher and Naween Fernando were the leading Australians on 3 wins.

Highlights reported by the players after day 1 were:

• Rogelio’s opening 2 moves against Bob Jackman were COXY.
• Alistair Kane (AUS) played SONDELIS for 149 + 5 for the challenge. This turned out to be the highest scoring word played in the tournament
• Bob played TRINDLES for 133 points against Steven Brown
• Howard played AVIANIZE
• Chris May (AUS) played PENKNIFE
• Steven played BICYCLES for 101, but missed CELIBACY as a 9-timer
• Bob played LOONS against Debbie, followed by its anagram SOLON in the first 2 moves.
• Richard Jeremy (AUS) played INTERCEDE through ED on second last turn to win
• Chris played SNEAKIEST
• Howard played OXLANDS for 125.

Individual standings are given below.