Whanganui netball girls struggle

Whanganui's goal keep Catherine Nauga leaps to halt a Waitakere 1 attack, while team mate and goal defence He-Mari Simon awaits the fallout during the national U17 netball tournament in Auckland.

The Whanganui netball girls were run ragged, yet still improved on last season to finish 18th at the U17 National Championships in Pukekohe, Auckland on Thursday.

After two days of pool play, the girls finished fourth in Pool G and crossed over to the middle section play offs for a top 17-32 finish.

The first cross over game was a 31-41 win over hosts Pukekohe, they then went on to win 40-34 against Thames Valley guaranteeing them a top 16-20 finish.

In the morning session on Thursday Whanganui played and beat Whangarei 41-30 to go into a play-off for 17-18 with Waitakere 1, but unfortunately the tired legs told and the girls went down 56-24 to finish the tournament in 18th spot. Last season the Whanganui U17 reps finished 21st.

"We didn't have the best of days on day one, but we picked up through the week and I'm very proud of the girls," coach Lisa Murphy said.

"In the final match against Waitakere 1, who had beaten us earlier in the week, we started well and it was 10-all after the first quarter. The second quarter was also pretty close at 21-19 to them, but in the third and final quarters our legs were getting tired. I didn't have much of an interchange for the midfield, so those girls were particularly run ragged.

"We did finish better than last year, so that was good."

Eight of the girls play in the Whanganui Premier A1 competition, including seven of Murphy's Whanganui High School A1 side.

"They will have to rest up for when the premier competition resumes after the holidays on Monday," Murphy said.