NETBALL: Pulse crash despite rejig of captain

Embattled Central Pulse coach Yvette McCausland-Durie took extreme action to turn around her team's woeful transtasman netball league fortunes last night.
It didn't work.
Southern Steel whipped the league stragglers 64-40 in Wellington, consigning the Pulse to their sixth successive defeat this season and their 31st loss in 32 games since the ANZ Championship was launched in 2008.
McCausland-Durie benched her captain Jane Altschwager for the sixth round match, replacing the Australian with young goal shoot Te Amo Amaru-Tibble in the hope this would somehow spark the Pulse into affirmative action.
But 20-year-old Amaru-Tibble was no cure at all, especially when her midcourt could not present her with enough possession to keep pace with the fast scoring visitors, who were fully rewarded for their superior fluidity and creativity.
Unsurprisingly, Amaru-Tibble was a touch tentative to start with as she missed her first, easy shot at goal, but she settled soon enough even if she was not helped by the inability of her feeders to regularly find a way through the staunch Steel defence led by Leana de Bruin and Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit.
The outcome of this mismatch was settled early as the Steel raced away to a first quarter lead of 18-9, which they extended to 34-19 at the main break.
Last night's other clash saw the Adelaide Thunderbirds beat the West Coast Fever 57-37 in Perth.