Blackberry Juice: Maple syrup!

You thought the individual event was tough, well welcome to the teams. Starting out 8th seed is never a good way to kick things off, especially when it sets you up for a match with the all conquering Canadians. But first the kiwi men's epee contingent had to make it past the up and coming 9th seeded Indians. But the determined NZers dominated from the start, wiping out the resistance faster than Rock can wipe out a plate of butter chicken. Final result - a clinical 45-20 something scoreline. Which brings us back to those formittable Canadians. With a team stacked with 1st, 2nd and 8th from the individual things looked pretty bleak from the start. They looked even bleaker 9 bouts later as the kiwis were crushed into 100 per cent genuine Canadian maple syrup. 19-45. Ouch.

A small consolation was the fact NZ still would get to fence off for the minor placings. Well it would have been a consolation had we won. But alas another loss, albeit more respectable 37-45 to Scotland for a final place of 8th. Dismal yes, but at least there was the satisfaction of seeing the defending champions Aus crash to 7th :)

In other results the hightlight of the competition was Jess claiming 7th in the women's epee, although even that was tinged with a bit of disappointment after she came within one touch of making the medals.

Anyway, that's all from Commonwealths 2006. Next up a week of sightseeing in Italy before believe it not it gets even tougher at World Champs. Keep reading for the sights, sounds, and most importantly tastes of Italy coming right up from a blackberry near you.