Water polo: NZ men lose, but women beat England

New Zealand's water polo women narrowly beat England in Auckland last night, holding on for a 8-7 win in their one-off test.

The women had already won the Southern Cross Cup tournament this week, involving them, England, Japan and a New Zealand junior side.

The men did not fare so well yesterday in their own one-off test, going down 13-11 to England.

That loss followed two earlier wins and a draw over the English that won New Zealand the Southern Cross Cup earlier this week .

Last night England's men put on a six goal burst in the third quarter to take the game from New Zealand and although New Zealand fought back in the last quarter, the damage was done when the score was 12-8 lead at the end of the third.

New Zealand's men and women now head to Australia for more build-up matches before the Commonwealth Games start in Melbourne in March.

* RESULTS from Auckland's Millennium Pool:

Women: New Zealand 8 (R McGuinness 3, M Thompson 2, R Donoghue 1, Amy Logan 1, Lynlee Smith 1) England 7 (C Mohan 2, B Cowten 1, F McCann 1, F Leighton 1, A Winstanley Smith 1, C Bardeki 1).

Men: England 13 (C Figes 4, T Curwen 4, R Leighton 2, M Banwell 1, A Squires 1, A Scholfield 1) New Zealand 11 (T Grace 4, D Broome 4, L Tijsen 2, R Claridge 1)

- NZPA