Wairarapa College
Gladstone Tauweru
Wairarapa College A were too strong for Gladstone Tauweru in the opening round of Premier One Netball at the Trust House Wairarapa Netball Complex on Saturday.
The students built an early lead in the first quarter and gradually extended their dominance to pull away for a commanding 31-goal victory, a pleasing result for coach Keely Riwai-Couch.
“I thought they [Gladstone] would be quite competitive, but I knew from last year they didn’t quite have enough for a full game, and that is pretty much how it went,” Riwai-Coauch said.
The comfortable margin allowed Riwai-Coach to give some players from the development team game time while she also had the luxury of rotating her attacking players. and she said all three worked well.
Overall, she was happy with the start to the championship.
“I’m always nervous as coach at the first game because I feel there is pressure on the players too, and the last three years, we’ve won twice and come runners-up last year.
“I make sure that they know they have to go out there and work hard, and they play how we train to play and help each other out and all those little things, and they did really well.”
Riwai-Couch also managed to catch some of Friday night’s game won by Jo Kelly and Co Carterton Old Girls 45-33 over Ōpaki Vixens, and she was impressed with the winners, who had several quality players in their lineup, including former Harcourts’ linchpin Katie Alsop.
“They are fit and experienced, so I wouldn’t be taking them lightly, and they were quite comfortable and it didn’t look like they were going to lose it.”
The game between defending champions Celtic and Jo Kelly and Co Carterton Maroon was postponed.
