Horouta, Waikohu in need of a win or two

Key player: Waikohu’s Toni Rutene gathers the ball under pressure from YMP’s Iriesha Carrington-Hingston. Rutene will be a key player for her team when they take on High School Old Girls and Gisborne Girls’ High Senior A in grading games tomorrow. File picture, by Paul Rickard

NETBALL

HOROUTA Gold and Waikohu enter the final games of netball grading tomorrow with most on their minds when it comes to the prospect of having to face the challenge round.

Results in the Pak’nSave competition tomorrow are vital for both teams.

On the points table, Horouta are sixth and Claydens Waikohu, seventh. They have six and four points respectively. Both need wins to get out of the danger zone.

Waikohu play the resurgent Taste One High School Old Girls side in their first match, at 9.55am, and then play an equally resurgent Gisborne Girls’ High Senior A team at 11.45am.

Girls’ High stretched YMP (1) last time out and beat Lytton Senior A, so they will be a handful.

“The girls are looking forward to it,” Waikohu coach Cheryl Te Rito said.

“I am confident they will do what they have to do . . . and hopefully it will be enough.

“It’s certainly been a different grading for us this year, compared with last year, with players in and out.

“But I am sure the players who take the court tomorrow will do their best.”

A win in one match should ensure Waikohu will be safe from the challenge roundA win in one match should ensure Waikohu will be safe from the challenge round.

Horouta have just the one shot at more points tomorrow, and it’s against Girls’ High at 9.55am.

“I feel really positive for the girls,” Horouta coach Claire Campbell said.

“They are focused and looking forward to the challenge.

“It’s going to be a good game, and I am sure both teams will bring their best.”

But it is not just Horouta Gold and Claydens Waikohu who will step out in vital games.

The school teams lie just two points further up the table, so tomorrow’s matches are important for them, too.

Lytton, on eight points, face by far the tougher day. They play YMP (1) at 10.50am and Whangara Old Girls at 12.40pm.

“They’ve had two wins and I would love for them to get a third, but unfortunately for them they are playing the teams at the top of the grade,” Lytton coach Ronnie Martin said.

“That will make tomorrow tougher for them. I am hoping for a win in one of the matches, but a draw would also be good.”

Girls’ High coach Irene Takao will want her team to maintain the level of improvement they have shown.

It would certainly be within their capabilities to win twice tomorrow, against Horouta and then Waikohu.

Whangara Old Girls and YMP (1) meet in the match of the day at 9am.

“We are one point ahead of them, but that doesn’t mean a lot,” Whangara coach Martin said.

“I’ve always found grading is not an indication of how well teams will go in the competition proper, even for the teams who find themselves at the bottom of the grade at this stage.”

She expects Whangara and YMP to produce a good tight game.

“It’s always that way between us.”

Points table: Whangara Old Girls and HSOG 13 points, YMP (1) 12, Lytton and Girls’ High 8, Horouta 6, Waikohu 4.