Latest news with #TianaMetuarau
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Tactix come from behind to make final
Northern Mystics coach Tia Winikerei looked on from the crowd as she scoped out her team's opponents for the ANZ Premiership final. It will be the Mainland Tactix after they came from behind to beat the Central Pulse 57-52 in the elimination final in Christchurch last night. They will now meet the Mystics in Auckland for the final on Sunday, a repeat of the 2021 edition in which the Mystics beat the Tactix 61-59. Captain Erikana Pederson celebrated her 100th game in the red dress — 130th game overall – in style, claiming a mammoth 50 feeds. It was the cliched game of two halves, the Pulse winning the first, and the Tactix the second, allowing the Tactic to remain undefeated at home this season. The Pulse had better ball speed down the court, which allowed Tiana Metuarau to open up and find Amelia Walmsley. The Tactix struggled bringing the ball through transition with only one option to the ball. It allowed the Pulse to hold a 14-10 lead at the first-quarter break. Jane Watson came out for a fly, but it left Walmsley alone and her feeders made no mistake in finding their shooter. Then defender Kelly Jackson came out on the angle, snaffled a cross-court ball and the Pulse forged ahead to a six-point lead. The Tactix started to eat into the score later in the quarter and Te Paea Selby-Rickit, playing her 180th game, nailed a two-pointer on the buzzer for the Tactix to trail 30-26 at halftime. Having Maddy Gordon and Whitney Souness switch in the midcourt, the latter shifting to centre, has been a master stroke for the Pulse. It allowed Gordon to use her explosive speed and front cut the circle edge, while opening up the space for Souness. Then the Tactix turned it around. They converted more of their turnovers and the Pulse's circle defenders' penalty count began to mount. The home side had all the momentum, and their through-court defence stepped up as they levelled the score. They won the quarter 15-10 and took a 41-40 lead at the break. That lead extended to six within the opening minutes and things really started to click when Burger picked off a brilliant ball. Defensively the Tactix worked as a unit with nearly every player picking up ball. Amorangi Malesala nailed some late two-pointers for the Pulse. ANZ Premiership The scores Mainland Tactix 57 Ellie Bird 47 (47/55), Te Paea Selby-Rickit 10 (9/14) Central Pulse 52 Amelia Walmsley 44 (42/43), Tiana Metuarau 3 (3/3), Amorangi Malesala 5 (3/4) Quarter scores: Central Pulse 14-10, 30-26, 40-41.
RNZ News
30-06-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
Netball wrap: Mystics in pole position, the Pulse's dilemma
Amelia Walmsley (left) and Tiana Metuarau of the Pulse. Photo: Joshua Devenie / Photosport Analysis - The Mystics climbed to the top of netball's ANZ Premiership ladder after beating the Stars 67-47 in Auckland on Monday, putting them in a prime position to host the grand final. Donnell Wallam returned to the court for the first time since she injured her wrist at the end of round three, and looked like she hadn't been away. The Australian import finished with 42 goals in 46 minutes, and was replaced by Sophia Lafaiali'i, who has been a real find for the Mystics this year. Mystics goal keep Catherine Hall continued her stunning form, etching out seven deflections and one intercept. The Stars terrible run of injuries continued, with former Silver Fern Kayla Johnson ruled out of the game. The Mystics took a 31-24 half-time lead over the bottom of the ladder Stars. Stars captain Maia Wilson went into GS early in the second half, with Charlie Bell's hands just letting her down. The Mystics made plenty of changes in the third quarter, including pushing wing attack Peta Toeava into goal attack, but the substitutions were seamless. The Mystics and Tactix have already guaranteed themselves two of the three spots in the finals series. The most fascinating storyline over the final two rounds will be the battle for the final play-off spot between the Pulse and Steel. Playing with a sense of desperation, the Pulse beat the table topping Tactix 59-50 in Wellington on Sunday to put themselves back into third, just ahead of the Steel. The Mystics celebrate another win. Photo: Marty Melville / Photosport Pulse goal attack Tiana Metuarau put up just one goal in her side's win over the Tactix. The week before that Metuarau shot seven goals, and the week before that four goals. Metuarau has scored 58 goals so far this season after eight matches in which she has played majority of minutes on court - an average of seven goals per game. Remarkably, in her first season in the ANZ Premiership in 2017 - she put up an average of 20 goals per game. Somewhere in between, the 24-year-old has lost confidence in going to the post and become more of a third feeder. Fortunately for the Pulse, Amelia Walmsley has been a tower of strength, and had one of her best outings of the season with 54 goals against the Tactix. You could argue there is far too much reliance on Walmsley, who is the leading goal scorer in the competition, or that the Pulse are simply playing to their strengths. It's not that different to the situation the Mystics were in back in 2021 when Silver Fern Grace Nweke was shooting most of the goals, and goal attack Bailey Mes shot very few. The Mystics went on to win the title that year so there's probably no right or wrong approach, except there's a risk that the Pulse are too predictable and they'd be in trouble if Walmsley got injured. The Pulse could utilise shooter Amorangi Malesala a lot more, given that the former Stars player is known for backing herself and going to post. The Southern Steel have improved this year. Photo: Marty Melville Last year Netball New Zealand announced that the domestic league would be cut from three rounds to two. The 2025 ANZ Premiership consists of 30-round robin matches and two finals over a 12-week period. Under the previous three-round format, 45 matches and two finals were played over a 17-week period. The worst aspect of it was that teams were playing each other three times and it felt like the season dragged on. At the time Netball NZ said the change was designed to ensure an engaging and exciting competition in response to teams' and audience feedback. You would have to say it has been more engaging, knowing that teams can't afford to lose many games if they want to qualify for the play-offs. The players have had to face more pressure cooker situations under the two-round season, which can only be good for them. After three successive losses, the Pulse had their backs against the wall when they hosted the Tactix on Sunday. Pulse captain Kelly Jackson said the pressure of a shorter season was palpable "It's going to be over in the blink of an eye and has just shown how crucial each game is, in terms of being able to accumulate points because before you know it, the season's over and you're at Finals time,'' Jackson said. "It has taken time to adjust to that and you do feel a considerable difference in going from a three-round competition to two rounds. There's not much time to muck around." It's disappointing that Netball NZ have not been able to organise anything in the window that opened up as a result of a shorter domestic season. The Silver Ferns will play just seven Tests this year, nowhere near the international exposure they need before next year's Commonwealth Games. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
05-06-2025
- Sport
- Scoop
Pulse Happy To Be Home As Season Tightens Up
Press Release – Netball Central Zone Building into some quality form, Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse are eagerly awaiting their ANZ Premiership netball league re-match against the Northern Mystics in Wellington on Sunday. The match marks the halfway point of the campaign, this year's season being reduced to just two rounds and putting the squeeze on the importance of winning each outing. The Pulse and Mystics sit second and third, respectively, on the points table, equal on points but with the Pulse enjoying a better goal differential. The Mystics outshone the Pulse by 11 goals three weeks ago but a lot has changed since then. 'One less round has certainly made the situation a little bit more intense,'' play-making Pulse goal attack Tiana Metuarau said. 'You don't get another round to save yourselves, so every game is a must-win and we want to put ourselves in the best possible position for whatever the end of the season will look like……and put ourselves in a good position for the business end. 'We want to go all the way, of course, and we've been chipping away since the first game, so we're excited for this weekend.'' With the Pulse's attack line of Maddy Gordon, Whitney Souness, Metuarau and Amelia Walmsley playing a full 60 minutes together for the first time since 2023 in last week's match-up against the Steel, the signs for further progress are encouraging. And they are confident the necessary improvements and adjustments will happen second-time around against the Mystics, who have their own problems with uncertainty around the hand injury sustained by key shooter Donnell Wallam. 'During our pre-season we were so disrupted and a huge portion of our starting seven were on managed loads or weren't playing at all and I've only played about six or seven ANZ games in the last two years post my injury last year, so like anything, the more you do it, the better you get at it,'' Metuarau said. 'And so with the more game time we're getting as a team and as a group, I feel like we're making huge improvements and progress to be heading in the right direction.'' The Pulse got the confidence-booster they were after against the Steel, negating the influence of what can be an intimidating Invercargill crowd and showing character to come back from a strong third quarter surge from the home side to finish with a bang when posting a 25-goal winning margin. 'We all did our jobs really well, and that's what netball is. If you do your job well, you should win and that's what happened at the weekend,'' Metuarau said. 'Scoring a couple of super shots in the third quarter gave us a bit of confidence as well. With the new rules, anything within 10 goals is a somewhat pressured situation. You only have to score five two-pointers to catch up, so it's a different dynamic but definitely to head into the last quarter with over 10 points was really good for us.'' A dynamic on-court presence, Metuarau, 24, notched 100 games for the Pulse earlier in the season, playing a total of 119 so far during her career after also spending 2021 with the Steel, and nowadays is somewhat of a veteran after bursting on to the scene as a 16-year-old schoolgirl in 2017. Happy with her form and how she's tracking this season, Metuarau had her best super shot return with five from eight against the Steel and while enjoying the associated buzz has some reservations. 'I'm still very much in the mindset that it changes the game because teams can score twice as many points with doing half the amount of work type of thing,'' she said. 'The frustrating thing is if you're able to get a buffer, then the opposition start hitting all these twos, it takes away from that traditional piece of the game, all the intricacies and things that go with it, so that's the only thing I have against it. 'But it is exciting and it definitely makes you feel good when you knock down some twos.'' After successive weekends playing in Auckland followed by the long haul south to Invercargill, the Pulse can't wait to play their first match in Wellington and their much-loved home at TSB Arena on Sunday.
Scoop
05-06-2025
- Sport
- Scoop
Pulse Happy To Be Home As Season Tightens Up
Building into some quality form, Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse are eagerly awaiting their ANZ Premiership netball league re-match against the Northern Mystics in Wellington on Sunday. The match marks the halfway point of the campaign, this year's season being reduced to just two rounds and putting the squeeze on the importance of winning each outing. The Pulse and Mystics sit second and third, respectively, on the points table, equal on points but with the Pulse enjoying a better goal differential. The Mystics outshone the Pulse by 11 goals three weeks ago but a lot has changed since then. ``One less round has certainly made the situation a little bit more intense,'' play-making Pulse goal attack Tiana Metuarau said. ``You don't get another round to save yourselves, so every game is a must-win and we want to put ourselves in the best possible position for whatever the end of the season will look like……and put ourselves in a good position for the business end. ``We want to go all the way, of course, and we've been chipping away since the first game, so we're excited for this weekend.'' With the Pulse's attack line of Maddy Gordon, Whitney Souness, Metuarau and Amelia Walmsley playing a full 60 minutes together for the first time since 2023 in last week's match-up against the Steel, the signs for further progress are encouraging. And they are confident the necessary improvements and adjustments will happen second-time around against the Mystics, who have their own problems with uncertainty around the hand injury sustained by key shooter Donnell Wallam. ``During our pre-season we were so disrupted and a huge portion of our starting seven were on managed loads or weren't playing at all and I've only played about six or seven ANZ games in the last two years post my injury last year, so like anything, the more you do it, the better you get at it,'' Metuarau said. ``And so with the more game time we're getting as a team and as a group, I feel like we're making huge improvements and progress to be heading in the right direction.'' The Pulse got the confidence-booster they were after against the Steel, negating the influence of what can be an intimidating Invercargill crowd and showing character to come back from a strong third quarter surge from the home side to finish with a bang when posting a 25-goal winning margin. ``We all did our jobs really well, and that's what netball is. If you do your job well, you should win and that's what happened at the weekend,'' Metuarau said. ``Scoring a couple of super shots in the third quarter gave us a bit of confidence as well. With the new rules, anything within 10 goals is a somewhat pressured situation. You only have to score five two-pointers to catch up, so it's a different dynamic but definitely to head into the last quarter with over 10 points was really good for us.'' A dynamic on-court presence, Metuarau, 24, notched 100 games for the Pulse earlier in the season, playing a total of 119 so far during her career after also spending 2021 with the Steel, and nowadays is somewhat of a veteran after bursting on to the scene as a 16-year-old schoolgirl in 2017. Happy with her form and how she's tracking this season, Metuarau had her best super shot return with five from eight against the Steel and while enjoying the associated buzz has some reservations. ``I'm still very much in the mindset that it changes the game because teams can score twice as many points with doing half the amount of work type of thing,'' she said. ``The frustrating thing is if you're able to get a buffer, then the opposition start hitting all these twos, it takes away from that traditional piece of the game, all the intricacies and things that go with it, so that's the only thing I have against it. ``But it is exciting and it definitely makes you feel good when you knock down some twos.'' After successive weekends playing in Auckland followed by the long haul south to Invercargill, the Pulse can't wait to play their first match in Wellington and their much-loved home at TSB Arena on Sunday.
