Tough double-header challenge for Pulse in Invercargill

April 28, 2017
Tough double-header challenge for Pulse in Invercargill

The challenges don’t get much bigger for Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse who will meet the top two teams in a crunch ANZ Premiership netball double-header in Invercargill in the coming days.

After an encouraging start to the season, the Pulse will get a real measure of their worth when opening the second of the Super Sunday rounds – where all teams play on the same day at the same venue – against WBOP Magic in Invercargill

There will be little time for the Pulse to catch their breath, a clash against the impressive Southern Steel following in quick succession on Monday night.

The three teams are tightly clustered on the points table, Steel with 10 and Magic and Pulse on nine points, in what is shaping as a pivotal weekend.

The first focus is Magic, who Pulse lost to by two goals in a tight Round 2 tussle.

``Having already lost to them, we need to take this one to be in a driving position in that top three on the points table,’’ Pulse coach Yvette McCausland-Durie said.

``It will be our first game against Steel and from that perspective it’s a real confidence builder. They have been so dominant in the competition to date and we get a chance to measure up of where we’re at against a team who’s been pretty damned consistent.’’

Happy with how they’ve been tracking doesn’t spell contentment for the Pulse and they’re keen to step up the intensity.

``Magic are very balanced across the whole court. They’ve got good shooters and they shoot pretty consistently, so our opportunities are through the middle and stopping that length on their drive and trying to make them change what they’re comfortable doing, that will be key for us,’’ McCausland-Durie said.

To date the Pulse have not been a high-scoring team but equally don’t allow opposition to get very high scores either. Not having a lot of height in their shooting circle has been off-set by taking a less direct route to the circle through more mobility and ball movement.

That was reflected in the efforts of shooter Cathrine Tuivaiti, who had her best outing in Pulse colours against her former Mystics team in the last round, as she continues to build on her attacking repertoire.

``Because we’ve got mobility everywhere, there’s that opportunity for her (Tuivaiti) to chime in on some of that and then on occasion to be the stationary post,’’ McCausland-Durie said. ``She came here to add value to her game and to challenge herself as much as she came to add value to the Pulse.

``We’ve got the capacity to be quite diverse in what we do but in the first five rounds we were quite clear in needing to get a base set, get some points on the board and have some systems in place and from there we can start to add.’’

With the team training every day through the season, McCausland-Duire is relaxed about the short turnaround between games and is confident the Pulse will be well-prepared.

There will be plenty of time for a full recovery after the first game and the coach believes similarities between Magic and Steel make the tactical preparation a little more seamless.

ENDS.

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