Wairarapa College A are making the pace in Netball Wairarapa's premier one competition. With five wins and one loss the students have accumulated 22 points, four more than joint second placegetters, Harcourts Collegiate and Newbolds Al Blacks on 18pts. Then come Celtic Marist 14pts, defending champions St Matthew's Collegiate 13pts, Saltue Greytown12pts, Featherston Black Socks 5pts and Hiona 0pts. Meanwhile,there were a mixed bag of results for the Wairarapa under-17 netball team at the Betty Steffenson tournament played in Palmerston North last Sunday. With just one win in three matches they were unable to replicate their earlier form which had seen them win the Marj Jenden trophy tourney and finish runners-up at the Cooke Osborne tourney. Wairarapa's opening game on this occasion was against Hutt Valley and basic errors cost them dearly in their 20-15 defeat. Also there was a lack of urgency in their play. It was not until the final quarter in their match with Manawatu development squad that Wairarapa took control. Two timely intercepts by wing defence Lisa Morriss were a highlight of their effort, along with the sound combination in the goal circle between goal shoot Kiri Eagle and goal attack Abby Hull. Wairarapa won 20-18. Wairarapa and Taranaki went goal for goal in their encounter with Wairarapa showing their best form of the tournament to lead by one goal at the end of the third quarter. However, they could not sustain the pressure and Taranaki came back well in the fourth quarter to take a 19-15 win. This coming Sunday will see the Wairarapa team play in an invitation tourney at Haitaitai. The opposition there will include Manawatu, Christchurch and Wellington and it will provide an excellent lead-in to the national under-17 tournament at Wanganui in July.
