Pulse face twin test of character
By Monday night we’ll know just how good this Central Pulse team actually is.
The Pulse have what could be the toughest Premiership doubleheader this season when they play the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic on Super Sunday in Invercargill, then have to turn around to play the unbeaten Southern Steel on Monday.
While it hasn’t been perfect, the Pulse have been trucking along nicely under new coach Yvette McCauslandDurie this year, having four wins and a loss, and sit in third place.
But if they can knock over competition favourites the Steel and Magic this weekend, it will show the Pulse are right in the mix and they will go to top of the pile.
‘‘That’s the goal,’’ McCauslandDurie said. ‘‘We’re pretty aware both of those teams have got really strong shooting combinations and tend to score reasonably well.’’
‘‘In terms of numbers down the defensive end they’re both very mobile units.’’
The Steel have tall timber Jhaniele Fowler-Reid and Silver Fern Te Paea Selby-Rickit at the shooting end and both present a big threat. Equally, the Magic have South African international Lenize Potgieter scoring most of their goals.
But McCausland-Durie was confident of being able to shut the prolific shooters down though.
The Pulse looked great in the first half of their 47-43 win over the Northern Mystics on Monday night, but switched off in the second half to let the Mystics come back.
Two consistent quarters weren’t enough to satisfy McCausland-Durie. ‘‘If we can get four of them together it would be brilliant.’’
They won’t be able to afford to drop off in either game this weekend.
The Pulse were beaten by two goals by the Magic earlier this season, but are yet to play the Steel.
Combinations have been building for the Pulse this year, with the shooting end in particular having to improve.
McCausland-Durie’s theory was she wanted to invest in a base of starting players to create the combinations and consistency, then work on bringing bench players into the mix later.
‘‘We haven’t had massive leaps of growth, but we’re getting little incremental shifts. The next [shift] needs to be a little better with some big games coming up.’’
At the shooting end, 16-year-old Tiana Metuarau has been promising and veteran Cathrine Tuivaiti has shown signs of the form from her Silver Ferns days.
One of the Pulse’s strengths this year has been defensive duo Phoenix Karaka and Katrina Grant, who have made life hard for all their opponents so far.
‘‘They’re playing very well and are really settling in as a combination,’’ McCausland-Durie said. ‘‘They’ve got a good working partnership and they’ve got that old adage of being on the same page at the same time.
‘‘It’s their second season together and we’re seeing that continuity come through.’’