Competition’s ‘big three’ too strong

Press, 7 May 1984, Page 34

Competition’s ‘big three’ too strong

The “big three,” Sacred Heart A, Burnside and St Nicholas, remain unbeaten after four rounds of the Canterbury Sports Depot senior netball competition. Sacred Heart downed South Brighton in a sometimes close match, 48-21, while Bumside beat Hagley and St Nicholas won against Teachers A.

Hagley played well to lose by 30* goals to Burnside’s 42 and Teachers (13) had no answer to St Nicholas (37).

Teachers B also lost, going down to Riccarton, 48-

In the last match of the day, Sacred Heart B and Technical played out a close game for Sacred Heart to win, 29-22.

The “player of the day” award went to the Sacred Heart A goal-shoot, Stephanie Stokes, who played competently. The May holidays next Saturday mean there will be no competition netball. Instead, teams will compete in the annual handicap tournament. St Nicholas 37 v. Teachers A

St Nicholas proved too strong and too confident in a scrappy match marked in the first half by wild passes. With yet another line-up change caused by illness, Teachers A struggled against St Nicholas. Robyn Davenport, the usual goal-keeper, moved out to goal-defence against the talented April leremia. Davenport’s skills are more suited to goal-keep but she played determinedly, as did her replacement under the post, Carol Stapleton. Ann Davidson, St Nicholas’ shooter, had a more accurate day with her shooting, giving the Teachers’ defence little chance. St Nicholas ran up

three quick goals before Teachers scored and were 14 goals ahead at the interval. Play continued to be scrappy in the second half with a number of seemingly spectacular interceptions resulting from wild high passes. More often than not possession was lost immediately through another silly pass.

Teachers, although well behind on the scoreboard continued to make St Nicholas work hard. For a spell in the second half, the college team had more shots at goal than St Nicholas. Davidson had more difficulty finding the net in the second half and less opportunities as the side lost concentration.

St Nicholas started the season, as the most impressive of the competition’s “big three,” but looked patchy against South Brighton the previous week and lost concentration again on Saturday.

The word uppermost in the coach, Pat Carrick’s mind now must be consistency. Riccarton 48 v. Teachers B 14

Riccarton took an early lead which Teachers never headed. Riccarton’s Diana Nelis and Sue Bradshaw made the most of the possession given them by the rest of the team.

After its narrow loss to Hagley last week, the Riccarton team had a point to prove in Saturday’s match, a feat it more than achieved.

The side played determinedly, giving Teachers little real chance to get into the game. The defence combination worked hard to supply possession, with Tanya Ronald at wing defence, making a number of interceptions. Teachers, like their A team, had changes to their line-up and trailed, 24-7, at half-time.

Riccarton started the second half as it had left off. Teachers struggled for possession and their goals were mostly penalties.

The game deteriorated in the second half as dropped catches, contact and obstruc-

tion marred play. Sacred Heart A 48 v. South

Brighton 21 Much interest centred around the performance of South Brighton, the team most likely to topple the top teams this season.

After a good display the previous week against St Nicholas, South Brighton again played well. Geane Hohipuha shot well, netting some long shots to keep South Brighton within striking distance during the first few minutes. Raylene Maxwell, the goal-shoot, was content to leave most of the shooting to Hohipuha. The game slipped from South Brighton as the Sacred Heart defence tightened its play. Too many passes were lost in the circle as Hohipuha and Maxwell passed the ball around.

South Brighton trailed by 12 goals at the interval. Lost opportunities were responsible for the large deficit. With instructions to shoot, Maxwell netted some shots early in the second half but the half-time deficit was too great. Rachel Bradley, the young South Brighton centre, had a sound game, given that her partner was Canterbury’s captain, Leigh Gibbs.

Sacred Heart played its best netball of the season, having to lift its game to match Brighton’s court play. For much of the second half Brighton matched Sacred Heart for goals, only losing momentum as the shooters missed shots. Also, Brighton lost its goal-defence, Verna Kelly, late in the match with an ankle injury. Burnside 42 v. Hagley 30

The first few minutes of the match were very close with the score see-sawing.

Hagley stayed within a goal of Burnside for that time. The defence combination of Catherine de Ruiter and Jan Edlin effectively covered Jan Pickering so that Wai Taumaunu had to take the bulk of the scoring.

Sharon Young shot well, turning possession into points for Hagley, to keep her team to a seven-goal deficit at the break. Pickering managed to get clear to take more shots in the second half and netted some excellent goals. Burnside, as was Sacred Heart, was pushed to better netball than it had played so far this season. Hagley made use of the substitution rule and brought Ann Wicken on at wing-attack. Burnside added another two goals to its half-time lead and held that margin. Some lazy passes in the centre court cost it possession but Hagley could not close the gap. It did pull back some goals with some tight defence and good court timing. De Ruiter had an excellent match at

goal-defence. Burnside tended to panic a little in the last minutes. Sacred Heart B 29 v. Technical 22 Goal for goal, Sacred Heart and Technical fought out the first half, which ended with Sacred Heart holding the advantage. With both sides towards the bottom of the competition and Technical without any points, both had the opportunity to advance on the points table. Play was close with Colleen Taurima, at goal-shoot, leading by example and netting some good goals. Technical trailed by just one goal at the interval, by 12-13. In spite of the closeness of the scores, the match lacked sparkle. Both sides made some elementary errors, but Sacred Heart’s better goal percentage gave it the edge. Results: St Nicholas 37, Teachers A 13; Riccarton 48, Teachers B 14; Sacred Heart A 48, South Brighton 21; Burnside 42, Hagley 30; Sacred Heart B 29, Technical 22. Points: Burnside, Sacred Heart A, St Nicholas 8, Hagley, Riccarton, South Brighton, Sacred Heart B 4, Teachers A and B, Technical 0. Senior reserve: Burnside B 39, Sacred Heart College 32; St Nicholas E 28, South Brighton 20; St Nicholas B 33, Cashmere 28; Sacred Heart 29, Bumside C 16.