It was a very good day for Tauranga under-14 teams on Saturday in a series of games against top Auckland teams on Saturday.
The under-14 age group rep teams travelled up to Auckland for pre-nationals games and came away with some great results. The overall summary of the day was played 10, won 8, drew 1, lost 1.
It was important game time for all the teams, with the Boys A team easily disposing of Marist A and Waitakere A.
Led by big strong players such as Cayne Dew, Sean McKenzie and Richard Clarke, and with a team full of fast swimmers and skilled players, the Boys A team are a real chance of national medal.
The Girls A team had a draw against Marist A and beat Marist B comfortably. A rotation system was used to good effect with the girls in both games, as a full squad went to Auckland who all needed to get game time.
The Girls A team have drawn Marist A in the first round at the nationals, so this was a good hit-out to get a feel for where Tauranga stands against them. Defensively Tauranga played very well but will rue too many shots on attack and rushed too many opportunities. This series of pre-nationals games were the ideal way to work out what needs to be improved on and what is working.
In other games, both the Boys and Girls B teams won both their games and the Girls C team, who are all still under 12-years-old, won one game and lost one.