Kuranui to face the Harcourts machine

Kuranui College will return from a hectic schedule at the Lower North Island secondary schools tournament in Palmerston North to take on the might of Harcourts in a Netball Wairarapa premier one semi-final match at the Colombo road courts, Masterton tomorrow.
In past clashes between the two sides this season Harcourts have dominated all over the court and nothing different is expected in this game, the winner of which will go straight through to the September 13 final.
Not that it will be the curtains for the loser either as far as their title aspirations are concerned. They will have a second chance to make the final themselves when they play Sports Arena Carterton in the last of the semi-final games at the Genesis Recreation Centre on Monday evening
Just how Kuranui College, or any other team for that matter, could even hope to slow the Harcourts juggernaut is impossible to fathom.
They have walloped all other premier one sides this season to the extent they are sitting just 78 goals short of the 1000 mark, and that despite one of their victories coming by default.
In Hope Phillips, Kelly Sargent and Geraldine Carroll Harcourts have players capable of scoring goals by the buckletload and centre Katie Wyeth has no peer when it comes to dominating the midcourt action.Throw in other players of the calibre of Michelle Teahan, Carlene Karaitiana, Naomi Cressey, Astee Karaitiana and Elaina Heggie and you have a line-up which is well equipped in every department.
Kuranui College, of course, do contain a number of the district's most promising talent, players like the Phillips sisters, Waimarama, Chanel Te Ata,and the Strange sisters, Alana and Tania,but they don't have the experience or the tactical nous of Harcourts , and even restricting them to a 50-goal winning margin would seem unlikely.
It could be a different story for Kuranui College on Monday, however, as while Sports Arena Carterton are a very useful side they are nowhere near as formidable as Harcourts, and a Kuranui victory would certainly not be out of the question.
Having said that, Sports Arena Carterton would have taken confidence from their hard-fought one goal victory over Gladstone All Blacks last weekend, and also from the fact that whilst they have never looked like beating Harcourts they have actually got closer to them than any other of the premier division sides.