Mid Canterbury’s U16A netball team has finished fourth at the U16 Tupuranga Championships for the second year running.

After a tough three days at the EA Networks Centre, the semi-finals picture in the 12-team A grade competition ended up looking exactly the same as 2024 – Mid Canterbury A versus Dunedin A, and Christchurch Red versus Christchurch Black.

And just like last year, Mid Canterbury A gave the southern side a real run for their money at the business end of the tournament co-hosted by Mid Canterbury Netball and the Christchurch Netball Centre, coming agonisingly close to a spot in the final. With the scores all tied up at full time, the game went to overtime where the first team to get out by two goals would win, and unfortunately for the Liesel Neame coached Mid Canterbury side it was Dunedin who got there first, winning 39-37.

But unlike last year, Dunedin’s luck ran out in the final, convincingly beaten by last year’s runners-up Christchurch Red 44-23, while Christchurch Black took out the third-place game, beating Mid Canterbury A 32-27.

A fourth-place finish was a great result for the Mid Canterbury team though, topping off an intense couple of days of competition.

Their campaign started with a narrow 33-32 win over Selwyn A, before a 38-23 win over Invercargill and a 32-18 win over North Otago secured their place in the top half of the draw heading into cross-over play on day two.

There, they came up against Dunedin in their first game on Saturday morning and went down 36-32, before wins over Central Southland 33-27 and Christchurch Black 36-34 put them into the top four and that semi-final rematch against Dunedin that went down to the wire.

Mid Canterbury’s second team in action was the Kaylee Dawson coached Mid Canterbury B team in the B grade, and they also had a great weekend, finishing 7^th in B grade.

The B team started their tournament with a 36-31 loss to Central Lakes Blue, before beating West Coast 29-19, and then going down to eventual B grade winners Christchurch White 39-1.

That put them into the bottom half of B grade, but from there they didn’t lose a game. On day two they beat Selwyn B 36-28, and Nelson Gold 35-28, and South Canterbury Development 31-21. They then went straight into the 7^th place game on Monday, where they again came up against Selwyn B and this time won 26-24.

Meanwhile up the road in Christchurch, Mid Canterbury’s U18 team was in action at the King’s Birthday tournament run by the Christchurch Netball Centre, where they won all four of their matches.

The Cindy Meadows coached side beat Eastern Southland 31-27 before beating Te Tai Poutini 40-28 on Sunday, and then beat Marlborough 39-29 and Selwyn 39-26 on Monday.

Mid Canterbury’s 2025 rep teams were as follows:

Mid Canterbury U16A – Chloe Prendergast, Tessa Jordaan, Zara McGillen, Salote Fifita, Madeleine Howden, Maia Calder, Charlotte Buter, Ashlee Estreich, Georgia Scammell, Isla Gilbert, Addisons Griffiths. Coach: Liesel Neame. Manager: Sarah Rawlings.

Mid Canterbury U16B – Sei Oriana Fareti, Emily Hodzelmans, Kayleigh Hawe, Lucy Coulter, Tia Double, Pearl Arrowsmith, Tegan Marriott, Grace Newport, Carina Lupse, Lynn-Mari Steenkamp. Coach: Kaylee Dawson. Manager: Jan Steenkamp.

Mid Canterbury U18 – Amelia Mitchell, Makeleta Ula, Emma Lowry, Siosiana Taufa, Lucy Williams, Ally Thomas, Ruby Williams, Gabby Brown, Tilly Johnson, Ruby Patterson, Tilly Johnson, Isla Crawford, Poppy Slater. Coach: Cindy Meadows. Assistant coach: Leigh Lyttle. Manager: Rosemary Adlam.

Article added: Tuesday 03 June 2025