Selwyn will be the second team to get their name engraved on the Senior Whakataetae trophy, after going through the Mid Canterbury Netball run tournament unbeaten.

Played over two days – September 7 and 8 – at the EA Networks Centre, the tournament got off to an incredible start when defending champions South Canterbury took on Selwyn in a match that had it all, and went right down to the wire.

Little separated the two teams throughout the hour-long match, and at the end of 60 minutes the two sides were even, sending it to extra time. The see-saw battle continued in that extra 5-minutes each way, and when the final whistle went there was just the one goal in it, with Selwyn claiming the narrow victory 64-63.

The second game of the tournament saw the home-side Mid Canterbury take on Nelson and come away with a 55-38 win, before Nelson took on Selwyn in the first of the afternoon matches and it was the Selwyn side who remained unbeaten on day one with a 50-34 win.

Just a few weeks after beating Mid Canterbury to claim the Hanan Shield, South Canterbury then came out strong in their second game of the day to make it two-from-two over Mid Canterbury for 2024, winning 51-37.

That meant it was all to play for on Sunday, with both Selwyn and South Canterbury still a chance of taking it out. South Canterbury needed to beat Nelson to remain in the hunt, which they did 60-29, and in order to defend their title they then needed Mid Canterbury to beat Selwyn – the bonus point they’d obtained from that loss to Selwyn would’ve been the difference there, had it ended up with three teams with two wins each at the end of the two days.

With Selwyn having been such a force on day one, Mid Canterbury knew they had a big ask in front of them, and while it was a tough battle and the home-side was within touching distance for much of the match, by the full-time whistle Selwyn had secured the win 48-39, and the trophy.

Mid Canterbury Netball centre manager Erin Tasker said it was a great two days of netball, and awesome to have the same four teams from 2023 return to battle it out again in 2024.

“All of the teams have given the strong indication that they’ll be back in 2025, and we’re hopeful that next year we’ll be able to attract at least a couple more centres, too, so with any luck 2025 should be even bigger and even better,” Tasker said.

Article added: Monday 09 September 2024