Pulse add to Tactix’s misery
The Central Pulse might just be the perfect blueprint for the embattled Mainland Tactix to follow.
Once one of netball’s easybeats, the Pulse are sitting pretty in the ANZ Premiership, after crushing the Tactix 52-38 in Christchurch on Monday night.
The victory lifts the Wellingtonbased side to second in the sixteam competition with a 6-3 record.
Under the tutelage of coach Yvette Mccausland-durie, the Pulse are playing with a level of confidence not seen in the old ANZ Championship and a top three finals berth is well within their grasp.
The beleaguered Tactix would be well advised to look at the Pulse organisation and what they’ve done to turn around a side, who were once so dismal they regularly lost to the red-and-blacks. It was another bitterly disappointing showing from the Tactix, following a heartening display against the
unbeaten Steel last week in Dunedin.
While the Crusaders are setting Super Rugby alight, their crosstown sisters are at the other end of the sporting spectrum.
The Tactix are 0-9 in New Zealand’s new domestic league and have lost 17 straight matches in either the former ANZ Championship or ANZ Premiership. They haven’t tasted victory in 380 days, a sorry statistic for a proud sporting province.
Not even the presence of one of Canterbury netball’s golden girls, Julie Seymour, who is assisting coach Marianne Delaney-hoshek at home matches for the rest of the season, could inspire the Tactix. They won the final quarter 12-8, but the game was over by then.
Their ugly play seen throughout much of 2017 returned. Sloppy turnovers and a lack of pressure on defence through the court hurt the Tactix, who again failed to fire in front of their long-suffering home fans.
The Pulse took a deserved 30-18 buffer into the main break and their lead had stretched to 15 goals (36-21]) after five minutes in the third quarter.
Victory was built around the stoic defence of skipper Katrina Grant, Phoenix Karaka, who is producing the best netball of her career, and workaholic wing defence Claire Kersten, who deserves a Silver Ferns trial the way she is playing.
In the shooting end, 16-year-old schoolgirl Tiana Metuarau, the daughter of former Silver Ferns coach and defender Wai Taumaunu, again belied her youth with a composed performance.
Metuarau slotted 25/28 and teamed up effectively with Cathrine Tuivaiti, who looks revitalised at the Pulse following the move from her hometown Mystics.