Netball Wairarapa hit champs

The draw has fallen nicely for St Matthew's Collegiate and Martinborough as they battle to confirm their places for the championship round of Netball Wairarapa's premier one inter-club competition.
With just this Saturday's qualifying matches to be played Harcourts (21pts), Pioneer Blue (21pts), Celtic (20pts) and Wairarapa College (16pts) are already through to the top six but the battle for the other two spots is on in earnest.
In the reckoning are four teams, St Matthew's Collegiate (12pts), Martinborough (11pts), Makoura College(10pts) and Baywide Gladstone (9pts), while already consigned to the premier one reserves are the shock conquerors of Harcourts last weekend, Carterton New World Lynx (7pts) and Trevs (3pts).
Remembering that 3pts are awarded for a win, 2pts for a draw and 1pt for losing by five goals or less even a cursory look at Saturday's draw would suggest that the current positioning of the teams will stay unaltered.
The formbook certainly suggests it is unlikely that either Makoura College or Baywide Gladstone will come away from their games at the Colombo Rd courts in Masterton with anything to show for their efforts.
Makoura College are playing Harcourts at 1.30pm and their big hope will be that Harcourts are as depleted by injury and unavailability as they were last Saturday, and consequently again come up with a below par performance. If that occurs Makoura College, who are never short of endeavour, are in with a chance, otherwise it will be an uphill battle.
Baywide Gladstone confront Pioneer Blue at noon and, with Pioneer Blue having lost just the one game and looking every inch a serious contender for the premier one title, it's hard to imagine anything other than a comfortable win to them.
For St Matthew's Collegiate and Martinborough, wins on Saturday are not only possible but likely.
St Matthew's takes on bottom-placed Trevs at noon and should have too many guns for them while Martinborough will be up against Carterton New World Lynx at 1.30pm in a match made more interesting by the fact the two teams have the same coach in Kim Whiteman. The Lynx will be buoyant after their win over Harcourts but Martinborough's desperation to make the championship round should be enough to get them home.
The other premier one game on Saturday will feature Celtic and Wairarapa College, and while they are both through to the top six already, the closeness of them on the points table would indicate a battle royal.