Wing defence Renee Savai'inaea has been a lively contributor during her time on court for the Pulse at Super Club. Photo: PhotoWellington
December 9, 2019
Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse rebounded strongly from a first-up loss to despatch England club Wasps 56-39 at the 2019 Netball Super Club tournament in Nelson today.
Led by a clinical shooting performance and backed up by some impressive defensive work, it was a comprehensive outing as the Pulse delivered a much-improved performance.
``Yesterday wasn’t good enough for our standards,’’ captain Katrina Rore said afterwards.
``Our intent wasn’t quite as high as we wanted it to be, so today was about fixing the little things. We just needed to put out a better performance and with these pre-season games, hopefully, we’ll just get better and better.’’
Back with the team for her first outing at the tournament, Ameliaranne Ekenasio was injected in the second half, sharing the shooting duties with Aliyah Dunn and Tiana Metuarau across the match, the potent Pulse trio all returning impressive figures in guiding the team back to the winner’s circle.
There was little to separate the individual contributions from the classy Pulse shooters in terms of finishing, intent, creativity and adding the polish, each missing just one goal apiece. Dunn shot 27 goals from 28 attempts for a 96 percent success rate, Metuarau 15/16 (94 percent) and Ekenasio 14/15 (93 percent).
At the other end, the defensive line of Elle Temu, Karin Burger and Rore put the clamps on several enterprising Wasps raids. Getting their hands on plenty of turnover ball, the defenders squashed any thoughts of a Wasps’ resurgence.
Continuing to build the deeper the match progressed, the Pulse went into halftime with an eight-goal lead before unleashing a dominant third quarter and pushing out to a commanding advantage.
After making an impact on the first day, Renee Savai’inaea got another opportunity at wing defence during the second half against Wasps while 18-year-old defender Paris Lokotui got her first taste of elite level netball in the closing stages.
The Pulse come up against old rivals, the Southern Steel in their final pool match at 8.10pm tomorrow (Tuesday).