St Matthews in bid for semi-finals spot

St Matthews Collegiate have made a positive start to their bid for a semi-finals berth in Netball Wairarapa's premier one competition. The students kicked off their top six campaign with a convincing 56-36 win over Sports Arena Carterton on Tuesday.
The only other top six match to be played this week is scheduled for tomorrow with Harcourts No.1 playing Gladstone All Blacks at the Colombo road courts. Their qualifying round encounter saw Harcourts run out commanding 54-13 winners and it's difficult to see the Gladstone All Blacks improving enough to be the first team to topple Harcourts No.1 this season.
Also down to meet in a first round top six game are Celtic and Kuranui College and this game has been deferred until August 11.
The last time those two teams met Celtic were narrow 36-32 winners but a penalty for twice failing to provide umpires for lower grade games gives Kuranui a good chance of turning the tables. Under the competition rules Celtic will be forced to take the court in that match with just five players and against a Kuranui side capable of playing the game at pace the extra two players in the college team should have a big say in the end result.