The loss of key midcourters didn't help the cause of the Wairarapa under-17 netball team at the Marj Jendon inter-provincial tournament in Masterton over Queen's Birthday weekend.
Captain Raewyn Cavubati played just one game before calling off through sickness, and deputy Charlotte Mossman did not play the last couple of matches
after battling shin splints in earlier appearances.
Without Cavubati and Mossman, the winless Wairarapa team struggled to get the ball to their shooters, and their results suffered as a consequence.
Coach Kim Whiteman was, however, pleased with the intensity of a defensive line-up spearheaded by Katarina Matupuku at goal defence and Evie Langlands at goal keep, with even the best of the under-17 sides troubled by their persistence.
In the under-15 grade, the Wairarapa A side, coached by Kelly Sargent, managed three wins. The Wairarapa development squad, coached by Olivia Geange, scored one. Sargent said her team tended to run hot and cold, and with greater consistency could have perhaps won a couple of games they lost.
''There were times when everything went pretty much according to plan and others where we lost the plot and didn't work as a team,'' she said. ''Hopefully it was a good learning curve from that point of view.''
Impressing with their versatility for Wairarapa were Kahu Brown and Taylor Carson-Butler. Brown had trained mostly at goal defence but was moved to goal attack in an attempt to strengthen that area. Carson-Butler was transferred from goal shoot to goal keep with similar success. Wing defence Brooke Sims also had a solid tournament.
