Ireland has claimed joint second place at the USA Nations' Cup in Wellington, finishing level on points with Britain, and with just one penalty point separating them from winners Canada.
Irish Team Manager Robert Splaine said afterwards: 'We did not go into this competition as favourites, and indeed I was here mainly to assess the performance of our US-based riders for later in the year, but the team produced a truly excellent result against some top opposition.
'At the end we tied with the British team and even the US team trailed us by four penalty points.'
Both former Olympian Kevin Babington from Carrick-on-Suir with
Souvenir and Cork's Shane Sweetnam on Amaretto d'Arco produced clear rounds first time out, but each collected four faults in the Cup's second round.
Sligo's Darragh Kerins on Night Train dropped a single pole in both
rounds, while Richie Moloney with Triviant was the discard score
with 12 faults in the first round, and did not jump in the second.
Ireland and Britain both finished on 16 faults, with a strongly
fancied Canadian team lifting the Nations' Cup trophy with 15
penalties.
The USA fielded some of its top riders for the competition,
but its team ended up in fourth place on 20 faults.
