Netball: Wills stoking Aucklanders' fire ahead of Canterbury rematch

Canterbury's Maree Bowden. Photo / Simon Baker

Auckland Waitakere coach Kiri Wills is not ready to write off her side's hopes of defending their provincial title this week despite suffering an embarrassing 18-goal defeat to Canterbury in Christchurch at the weekend.

Since Saturday's 71-53 loss Wills has been busy plotting her side's course to the final of the Lion Foundation netball championships, where she hopes her side can exact revenge over the classy Cantabrians.

The semifinalists for this week's play-offs at Waitakere's Trusts Stadium are all but decided, with Canterbury, Wellington and Auckland's place in the top four assured, while Southland and Otago will battle it out for the last spot.

Southland appear to have the edge over their provincial neighbours after toppling Otago 45-40 in Gore yesterday. Otago will need to beat Auckland Waitakere in Thursday's final round and hope Southland go down to Western by more than five goals to secure their place in the semifinals.

But after back-to-back losses, the tournament hosts need to find some form before the finals and Wills said they are desperate to regain their spark against Otago.

"We definitely need to start playing to our potential," said Wills.

"The aim now is to finish third not fourth, because it's looking like Canterbury will go through number one and it would be very difficult to topple Canterbury in a semifinal. I'd like the team to have an extra game under their belt before we meet them again."

The unbeaten Canterbury side boasts experience throughout the court, including former Silver Fern Maree Bowden in the midcourt and current squad members Anna Thompson and Charlotte Kight. At full strength, they have looked a class above their opponents but Wills insists Canterbury can be beaten.

"They are looking extremely strong. We would have to play at our absolute best for 60 minutes to beat them and so far we haven't put in a complete performance."

Based on Saturday's performance the Auckland side have a lot of work to do to reach that goal.

The Auckland defence had no answer for the slick and clinical Canterbury attack, with young Tactix shooter Ellen Halpenny particularly impressive, slotting 46 of 51 attempts at goal. In contrast the visitors attack was slow and disjointed, and too reliant on star shooter Cathrine Latu.

"We were shown up, basically," said Wills. "They were really polished on attack and their defence is tight so every ball we went for was contested."

In Saturday's other first division match, newly-promoted Wellington continued their unbeaten run with a 49-41 win over Western. The Wellington side take on Canterbury in Thursday's final round in a game that will determine the No 1 ranking for the finals.

WEEKEND WINNERS

Lion Foundation Netball Championships Round four results:

* Canterbury 71-53 Auckland Waitakere.
*Wellington 49-41 Western.
*Southland 45-40 Otago.