With one round of pool play remaining, some of the more fancied teams have a battle on their hands to remain in contention at the NetballSmart Netball NZ Open Champs in Dunedin.
After an absorbing second day’s play on Wednesday, three teams in each of the four pools remain in contention for a place in the top eight. That leaves a compelling finale to pool play with the race for a top-two finish and with it the chance of a shot at the title, leaving plenty riding on the outcomes of their contests on Thursday morning.
Draws and losing by three goals or less have tightened the equation while an upset 39-35 win for Dunedin over last year’s beaten finalists Hamilton City has left the Waikato team struggling for a repeat performance and needing a must-win outcome against an unbeaten Auckland tomorrow.
In Pool A, Waitakere and Invercargill remain unbeaten with a win and a draw apiece but defending champions North Harbour sit just one point adrift and play Waitakere tomorrow in a key match-up.
Auckland have a four-point advantage in Pool B with Hamilton City and Dunedin close behind. The Yvette McCausland-Durie-coached Manawatu have also kept a clean sheet alongside Tauranga to share top-billing in Pool C while it’s a similar story on Pool D with Christchurch Red and Counties Manukau Cluster remaining unbeaten.
“The standard of netball has been really good and there’s a lot of younger players, or players that have come back to play, which has made the games really competitive,” NZ U21 assistant coach, Te Aroha Keenan said.
“There’s not so many ANZ (Premiership) players playing in the tournament but the matches have been really good, good to watch and producing some close outcomes.”
Keenan is more than happy with the influx of younger players who have injected themselves into the mix at this year’s tournament with some still at school and others in their first year out of college.
“It’s really interesting to see the youth coming through and I’m here with other selectors looking at the U21 groupings for the next squad, so it’s great to see them come to this tournament and play against tough opposition,” she said.
“On the whole, the teams are pretty polished. I know some of them haven’t had a lot of time together but they look pretty good and the coaches are rotating their players which is good to see, so we’re pleased with what we’ve seen thus far.”
The top eight will be determined after tomorrow’s round of pool matches with the quarter and semi-finals being played on Friday.