Hope in defeat for team

Netball

Wairarapa can take confidence from their 65-42 loss to PIC 2 in their regional super league netball match played at the Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua last Thursday night.

Coach Dayle Clarkson was pleased with the performance of her mainly young charges against a more seasoned and competition-hardened PIC combination.

"We knew we had to bring more depth and strategy to our game so at training we had focused on new game plans and to the credit of the girls they brought their learning to the court," Clarkson said.

Wairarapa made a strong start, breaking PIC's centre pass on several occasions, and they were actually in front at the end of the first quarter. However, PIC settled into their work with more purpose in the second quarter and by halftime had moved out to a 17-goal advantage.

Clarkson said it was obvious some of her players were struggling with the intensity of the match and some changes had been made to bring fresh legs into the action and the new players had responded well to the challenge, reducing the PIC lead to 12 goals by the end of the third quarter.

The fourth and final quarter was a different story though, with Wairarapa running out of steam and PIC capitalising to win by a comfortable margin.

Standout performances for Wairarapa came from Rennie Hemara and Elleshia Clarkson, who won plenty of ball in the midcourt, while shooters Bailey Peterson and Hope Phillips combined well, their 83 per cent success rate illustrating the problems they caused for the PIC defence.

Captain Kerewai Tatana was quick to praise the application of her Wairarapa team.

"We played well right throughout the court, everyone put in 100 per cent," she said. "I couldn't be happier with the effort put in."