Harcourts are threatening to make a one-horse race of Netball Wairarapa's premier-one competition.
Unbeaten in seven matches, they have opened a five-point buffer at the head of the points table, scoring 454 goals while conceding only 175.
Chasing Harcourts hardest are Wairarapa College A and St Matthew's Collegiate A, while Pioneer, FagansHot Shots, Carterton New World Legends and Makoura College all still have a realistic chance of making the top six for the championship proper.
The points table is: Harcourts 21, Wairarapa College 16, St Matthew's Collegiate A 16, Pioneer 13, Fagan Hots Shots 13, Carterton New World Legends 13, Makoura College 11, NZCU Baywide Gladstone All Blacks 7, Kuranui College A 7 and Carterton New World Lynx 3.
This week's draw sees Wairarapa College playing Pioneer and Harcourts up against Makoura College at the Genesis Recreation Centre on Friday night while on Saturday at the Colombo Rd courts, Carterton New World Legends will do battle with Fagan Hot Shots, St Matthew's Collegiate A will meet Gladstone All Blacks and Carterton New World Lynx will play Kuranui College.
Wairarapa might not have tasted success in the under-17 section of the Steffenson Trophy tourney in Palmerston North last weekend but coach Kim Whiteman was happy with the improvement in their form at the Marj Jenden tourney the previous weekend.
In the cold, wet conditions, Wairarapa adopted a slower style involving short, flat passes with the strong defensive play of Katarina Matapuka, Lilly McGilvary and Raewyn Cavubati a feature of their performances. Evie Langland sparked the midcourt at centre and even though the shooting end was weakened by injuries to Judy Brown and Bailey Peterson, replacement Ella Nauer made a good impression there.
Wairarapa scores at the Steffenson Trophy tourney: Under-17: Hastings 27, Wairarapa 23; Eastern Southern 51, Wairarapa 17; Manawatu Western 39, Wairarapa 17.
Under-15: Wairarapa 40, Western Horowhenua 14; Hastings 35, Wairarapa 23; Manawatu Western 51, Wairarapa 25; Wairarapa 30, Kapiti development 20; Manawatu Western development 30, Wairarapa development 19; Kapiti development 27, Wairarapa development 22; Hutt Valley development 39, Wairarapa development 17; Wairarapa development 23, Horowhenua 21.
Year 8: Wairarapa 16, Wellington West 15; Manawatu Western 24, Wairarapa 14; Wairarapa 11, Hawke's Bay 10.
Year 7: Manawatu Western 12, Wairarapa 9; Wairarapa 8, Motu Kairangi development 6; Wairarapa 11, Motu Kairangi 5.
