MATCH: Aztec 2 v Manurewa Rugby Gold
VENUE: Rosehill College DATE: Friday 8/6/12
RESULT: 23 - 59 Manurewa Rugby Gold Won
TEAM:
Alison White, Ariana Page, Chelsea Bilton, Luana Beazley-Tango, Ngamira Warren, Nicola O’Malley, Sara Lendrum, Sarah Inkster, Shaiann Hemi, Terri Anne Paea, Tracey Spence, Lucy Bremner
COACH: Wendy Bremner MANAGER: Josephine Otene
STARTING LINE UP:
O’Malley GS, Inkster GA, Page WA, White C, Lendrum WD, Spence GD Beazley-Tango GK
BENCH:
Bilton, Hemi, Bremner, Warren Injured: Paea
We struggled from the starting whistle to get the ball into the shooting circle as our shooters looked hesitant and weren’t stepping forward into the ball, finding it difficult to get in-front to present a target or hold space in the circle. There were a lot of turnovers at each end as the teams settled in the match before the first few goals were scored. The score was 2-3 when Beazley-Tango called injury time. O’Malley was replaced by Bilton at GS and Spence swapped places with Beazley-Tango in the defensive circle. Aztec however continued to struggle to retain possession or find space and their shooters. Manurewa Rugby scored 7 goals before we netted a goal after 3 missed attempts. Bilton, usually a player to bring calm and confidence to the court struggled with the tight defence and couldn’t find her rhythm. It was catch-up netball from now and panic had begun to set in. By the end of the first 15 minutes Manurewa Rugby were ahead by 9.
First quarter Score: 4 - 13 Manurewa Rugby Gold
We had come from behind in the past against this team and we were keen for the players who had started to go back on and get the game under control. (Beazley-Tango and Spence swapped back to their starting positions the rest stayed the same from when injury was called in the 1st quarter). Unfortunately the opposite happened. We managed to only get the ball into our shooting circle 6 times from our 12 centre passes in this quarter and only 4 of these found the net. We concerned ourselves with things beyond our control, were in each other’s space and playing reactive netball, squandering hard earnt possession and making panicked decisions. Manurewa on the other hand were building on their momentum, sinking the goals at pace, scoring an incredible 19 from 23 attempts. The Aztec girls seemed completely shell-shocked, they had no answer to the pace and physicality and came off the court at half time with a deficit of 24.
Half time Score: 8 - 32 to Manurewa Rugby Gold
Spence was moved to the shooting end with Bilton out to GA, Bremner came on at WA, Hemi at WD, Warren at GD - White and Beazley-Tango stayed in their starting positions. Aztec started strong with much more control and scored goal for goal for the first 8 centre passes of this quarter. Spence was creating space in the circle and Bremner was seeing the passes into the shooters. Hemi was hunting and putting pressure on the Manurewa's mid-court attackers. Unfortunately our overall confidence was down and we struggled with our accuracy. Manurewa managed to break our centre pass again twice and Aztec didn’t seem to be able to catch a break. The third quarter was much more closely contested with a deficit of only 5. The margin had increased to 29.
Third Quarter Score: 17 - 46 to Manurewa Rugby Gold
One change, Bilton who had been heavily penalised throughout the game, came off replaced by Inkster at GA. Manurewa started strong. After 2 centre passes they called injury time when one of their players hit the deck at the slippery end of the court. No changes were made. 4 more centre passes and Bremner had to come off for injury after a collision in the mid-court. Page came on at WA. Manurewa had scored 5 and Aztec 1. Despite a couple of great intercepts and tips by White, Hemi, Warren and Beazley-Tango, we failed to win this final period of play. Manurewa ended the match with a decisive 36 goal victory.
Final Score: 23 - 59 to Manurewa Rugby Gold
The previous two times we have met this season we finished within 1 goal of each other. Tonight was a different story altogether. You can say the start time, 8pm on a Friday at the end of a busy week, an extremely slippery floor, lights and a hot gym, unfamiliarity with inside games for some of our first timers, the increased physicality, contributed to our poor performance. However, all of these things are outside our control and we didn’t make the most of the opportunities we had. We failed to treasure the ball, we were hesitant to put up shots and inaccurate, our mid-court struggled to find space and played reactive netball and our defenders were unable to stop the ball getting into Manurewa’s shooters who were finishing well. They put up 32 more shots than we did. Lots to work on over the next week before our second RPL match.
However, there was a positive from the match and that was we had a much better 2nd half and kept our heads up till the final whistle.