AIMMNA

Kiwi win two out of three at netball

Fri
23 Oct

New Zealand were gunning for a clean sweep of the international men’s and mixed netball finals held at the Telecom Sports Arena yesterday.

But the Aussie mixed team squashed all chances of a Kiwi ‘blackout’.

After taking out the under 23 division 59-47 – New Zealand set their sights on beating the Aussies in the mixed division.

And they certainly got their campaign off to a great start managing to keep the Aussies at a safe six goal deficit through the first half of the game.

The Kiwis were on fire mainly due to their dynamic shooting duo of Tania Lowe and Matu Ngaropo.

Then the Aussies mounted a mini fight back late in the third quarter to draw level with New Zealand 28-all.

But the Kiwis weren’t having a bar of it and they pulled away to end up leading the third quarter 34-30.

If they thought that they would cruise to a win in the fourth quarter – they were stunned by a rejuvenated Aussie side that upped their defence to force the Kiwis into making mistakes.

Leading the charge in getting under the Kiwis skin was the Aussies pint-sized midcourter Jacinta Todd who skirted around the New Zealand defenders to feed her shooters.

With eight minutes left on the board the Aussies finally pulled back New Zealand’s lead to draw level once again at 37-all.

Then it was all on when the Aussies threw everything they had to pull away to 40-37 before running away with the game to clinch the match 48-42.

A thrilled Aussie side then turned their joy and attention to the Rutaki Primary School students who cheered them on from start to end.

In the open men’s grand finals New Zealand beat Australia 61-55.

The netballers celebrated the closing of the week-long tournament with the prize giving at Staircase Restaurant and Bar last night.

• Matariki Wilson

Netball continues today

Tue
20 Oct

The business end of the international men’s and mixed netball tournament gets underway on Wednesday with preliminary semi finals.

Australia and New Zealand have dominated the competition since the start and look likely to face off in the under 23, mixed and open men’s divisions.

But the Cook Islands mixed team have a chance of getting in the finals provided they play their best seven on the court.

Yesterday’s match between the Cook Islands and Australian open men’s team was a real thriller even though the Aussies thrashed the Cooks 85-13.

Local supporters cheered on the Cook Islands side urging them to hit the double figures after being kept to a 5-40 scoreline at half time.

Giving local supporters something to really cheer about were beach volleyball player Brendon Heath and basketball player Pecan Ikimotu.

The tenacious defenders never stopped giving the Aussies grief under the goal but the Australian shooting combination of Daniel Cooke and Collin Parish was just too slick.

Ikimotu and Heath pulled off some stunning intercepts only to be handed back to the Aussies in centre court before it was potted into the Aussie goal.

Today the Cook Islands mixed team will play New Zealand at 10am.

This match will be followed by the open men’s team between New Zealand and the Cook Islands.

At 2pm an action packed match is expected between the New Zealand under 23 team and Australia.

It will be under trans-Tasman showdown at 4pm in the open men’s division and again at 6pm in the mixed division.

Tomorrow’s preliminary and semi finals are scheduled for 2pm, 4pm and 6pm.

• Matariki Wilson

Cooks mixed team to play Kiwis

Sat
17 Oct

The Cook Islands men’s and mixed netballers will take to the courts for four games today with the first match scheduled for 12pm.

Today is the fourth day of the international men’s and mixed netball Oceania challenge cup with the event to wrap up next Thursday.

The first match today will be between the Australian and Cook Islands under 23 teams at 12pm.

The Cooks will take to the court again at 2pm to meet the New Zealand mixed team before the open men’s team from the Cooks and New Zealand square off at 4pm.

The last game of the day is in the under 23 division between the Cook Islands and New Zealand.

The entry fee into the Telecom Sports Arena is just $5 to watch all four games.

You can go away and have lunch and return to the arena on your $5 ticket.

• Matariki Wilson

Five games lined up at netball today

Fri
16 Oct

More thrilling games were seen at the Telecom Sports Arena yesterday as netballers took to the courts for the second day of the international men’s and mixed netball tournament.

First up on the courts was the Cook Islands mixed team against a very tough New Zealand side.

New Zealand got their game to a great start with a 5-1 lead in the first five minutes of the game.

The Cook Islands dug deep to pull back the lead to 7-all before New Zealand again pulled away into the lead.

In the end New Zealand won the gritty match 49-32.

The battle during the game was definitely in New Zealand circle with Kiwi shooter Matu Ngaropo showing speed, agility and shooting skills.

But local keeper Brendon Heath was a thorn in his side with his impressive defending style and he was supported by Punanga Kaveao who managed to intercept the ball at times for the Cooks.

In the Cook Islands shooting circle – Tex Tangimetua had to work hard to free himself to receive the ball and when he did get the ball he made sure the attempts counted.

He was ably assisted by shooter Curley George with the ball being fed into the circle by fellow national netballers Luci- ana Matenga and Madison Nicholas.

The second on court battle of the day was between the New Zealand under 23 side and Australia with the match ending in a 42-all draw.

New Zealand faced Australia again in the open mixed category, with the Aussies winning 51-43 before the Cook Islands took to the court again in the last game of the day against New Zealand in the open men’s section. The Kiwis won that match easily 66-16.

Five matches have been scheduled for today with the Cook Islands open men’s team taking on Australia in the first game of the day at 9am.

This match will be followed by the under 23 game between the Cooks and Australia at 11am with the mixed teams from the two country going head to head at 1pm.

At 3pm, the New Zealand open men’s team will take on Australia before the New Zealand under 23 team faces the Cook Islands at 5pm.

The entry fee to the TSA is only $5 for the day so why not take your lunch break to the netball or better still grab the gang for a spot of netball before hitting the town tonight.

Aussie men impress at netball

Thu
15 Oct

Australia proved why they are leading the way in men’s netball when they cleaned up the Cook Islands in all three of their encounters during the first day of the international men’s and mixed netball tournament yesterday.

The Australian under 23 side was just too fast and slick for the local side who went down to the Aussies 15-85.

Admittedly there were a number of first time netballers in the Cook Islands side including touch, rugby and soccer player Andrew Mokoroa.

Mokoroa attempted a number of ‘tricky dicky’ passes of which some stuck and most went astray.

Under 23 shooters Mona and Casasha weren’t getting much action in the shooting circle with the ball rarely appearing at their end of the court as the Aussies intercepted balls left, right and centre.

A better game by the Cooks was seen in their second match against Australia in the mixed men’s division.

National netballers Luciana Matenga, Curley George, Madison Nicholas and Takuvaine shooter Tokoa John took to the courts for the Cook Islands in what was a very tough match.

The Aussies once again showed their netball prowess but the local boys and girls dug deep to close the gap on the Australians who eventually won the match 61-43.

The Australian open men’s team then made it a hat trick when they outclassed the Cooks 53-27 in what was a very gritty match.

While Australia were the winners on the day, there were a number of Cook Islands players that played brilliantly throughout the day.

Tupa Tupa was dynamic in the shooting circle as goal defender for the Cooks in both the under 23 match and the open men’s.

Equally dynamic was international beach volleyball player Brendon Heath who brought his own style of play to the courts.

His elevation on court, and ability to leap above the goal and tap the ball out of the basket was impressive.

Though they saw little action, Cook Islands shooters Geneva, Tex Tangimetua, Maurua Mou and Mona held their composure under the immense Australian pressure.

The last game yesterday was between the New Zealand under 23 squad and the Cook Islands.

More games are scheduled today with the Cook Islands mixed team taking to the courts at 10am against New Zealand.

At noon New Zealand will meet Australia in the under 23 division and at 2pm New Zealand will take on the Australian open men’s side in what is sure to be a thriller of a match.

The final game of the day is scheduled for 4pm between the Cook Islands open men’s team and New Zealand.

Organisers of the event hope to schedule some evening matches so working members of the public can have a chance to catch some of the exciting action.

$5 gives you access to the Telecom Sports Arena to watch all four games.

Day Three 23's report

Dear Diary,

Wow, another day down, and its only day four. Finally after 2 training sessions, sun and cocktails on the beach we have started our tournament. Plenty of laughs, joking/ lazing around it was time to get serious and show our skills against the other teams.

Our day started waking up for brekky in the rain, yes u heard us rain!! Then we headed off to the courts for the first game of the tournament. A neat warm-up showed we were all switched on ad ready to get into some serious netball.

After the national anthems and gift exchanging it was time to get the job done. Right from the get go we showed everyone at the stadium what men netball is about by taking a commanding lead a quarter time 24-6. A very balanced attack line with the pace and precision of Vice-captain Justin Barnes and South Australian Lachlan Deane put on another good quarter to bring the half time score to 47. With Captain Karl Dixon and Victorian Greg Heinrich at the defensive line it proved to be too strong for the Cook Islanders restricting them to only 1 goal for the quarter.

The last half was no exception with plenty of substitutions, including Trent Cocks and Bradley Tanner up forward who continued our lead stretching it to 85-15 by the end of the game.

Overall everyone came together to show how strong the Australian 23/under really are. Coach Marg Angove was very impressed with the performance with plenty of good feedback and only a few little minor things to tidy up before we take of the Kiwis in game two tomorrow.

After recovery and some lunch we headed back to the stadium to watch our open men's team take on the Cook Island men's team, before we relaxed back at our resort with some pool volleyball and a team dinner.

Now it's time to get some sleep before we hit the courts for day two of the tournament against the Kiwis. With a very physical game upon us we will have to be switched on from the go! And play strong and smart to beat them!!

Well that's enough from us with another update from Rarotonga tomorrow.

Karl Dixon and Justin Barnes

23/under. 

Day Two 23's report

Dear Diary,

Day 2 started off with brekky and a morning training session at the newly, purposely built national netball stadium.

We had a good solid training session before taking to the courts against our own Aussie mixed team followed by the open men's!

Started a bit slow for the first few quarters before we turned it on against our open team which includes some very seasoned and experienced players!

Finally finishing our training session we returned to the resort for recovery, lunch and some well deserved time to relax. Then we all went down to the local lagoon for a swim before the wind and rain got to us!!

Now full from the stir-fry kindly cooked by our managers we have a meeting then some more rest and relaxation before taking to the courts for one more training session before we hit the real stuff (NZ!!!)

Well that's day two done and dusted, more updates soon..

Karl Dixon and Justin Barnes

23/under

Day One Open Men report

The Australian Open Team

By Dan Ryan

After a few hours of delayed flights and some long travelling, we finally arrived in the Cook Islands. We all caught some much needed sleep on Saturday night and woke relatively fresh on Sunday morning.

Sunday turned out to be a day that the Open boys would like to take back. Most of us forgot our life long eduction on being sun smart and we certainly have paid the price for our mistake.

Our skipper Guy Keane scorched his freshly shaved head and Tim Blackwood, Lee Apthorpe, James Matthews, Sturt Dent and I took shoulder burn to a new level of extreme. The team did manage to have a few wise heads that stayed inside and avoided the burn. A very smart move by Sikeli Seru, Colin Parish and Daniel Cook to stay inside, let’s just say we have all learned our lesson.

On a positive note with the sunburn, we have taken this opportunity to give the Open team a nickname... introducing the Australian Open Blisters.

As the sunburn settled, we hope is goes away very soon, it was time to hit the court for our first training sessions. It was great to get out on court and blow away the cobwebs. We took the chance to test some new combinations, trial some line line ups and work on our basic set up’s and structures.

We had a good hit out against the 23’s and the Mixed team and put together some nice passages of play. We have many things to work on before we tacked the Cooks and the Kiwis, but things are looking good for the coming competition.

It’s been a good couple of days so far in the Cook Islands for the Open Men’s team. Not a bad life here, netball, the sun (watch the burn), the beach, great people… good times.

Opening ceremony tonight and then let the games begin!

Dear Diary,

We have finally arrived in Cook Islands (Rarotonga) after an agenizing trip on the way over, which included a delay of four hours in Sydney!

We finally reached paradise and wowee did the heat hit us all!!? We all knew we are in for hot weather, cocktails and of course the game netball.

Our days started off with a brekky and a 2KM run to get our jet lag legs going once again, than the rest of the day concluded with a game of pool volleyball and relaxing in the warm sun.

Tomorrow we finally hit the courts for our first training session together to get ourselves ready and raring to win this out!

Time to eat dinner and see where the evening takes us!

To be continued….

Karl Dixon and Justin Barnes.

23/under.