Netball: Auckland sides put contest in spin

By JENNI RUTHERFORD

New Zealand selector and Silver Ferns coach Yvonne Willering admitted she would not like to be a betting person, with expected winners losing and underdogs giving strong sides a tough run in netball's provincial Coca-Cola Cup competition.

"It's certainly not as predictable as other years," she said after the fourth round yesterday.

Willering and scouts Rhonda Wilcox and Marlene Flavell have been sitting in at the provincial league games, looking for new blood and gauging the current squad's performance for the Silver Ferns' international season.

With imports such as Jamaican Elaine Davis, South Africans Irene Van Dyk and Michelle Tupper, English-born Helen Lonsdale, Jodi Whitmore and Elise Middleton from Australia and Fijians Valimaina Davu and Bulou Rabuka spread across the country, the selectors are seeing less New Zealand-bred talent on the court.

Willering looks at the foreign-player situation from two angles. "On one hand it's a development problem within New Zealand - we're not bringing the players through, cutting down players to select, yet on the other hand we can use the opportunity wisely and utilise their skills," she said.

Overseas players are available to play for New Zealand, but have to play for one country for the year. Only Davis has openly expressed her desire to continue playing with her national side.

Two Auckland teams were the main culprits in turning the competition upside down, beating two previously dominant sides yesterday.

Coming off the back of a disappointing 50-50 draw with the feisty Western Flyers on Friday, the Force played a tight match against the Otago Rebels at the North Shore Events Centre, beating last year's runners-up 54-43.

Otago never gelled, with countless unforced and personal errors that frustrated experienced player and Silver Fern Adine Harper.

"It was pretty disappointing after Friday's win (against the Shakers) when the structure was so good. The whole game was frustrating," she said.

The level head and communication of Belinda Colling, who is away on Olympic basketball duties, was noticeably absent.

By comparison, the Force were a tight unit, sticking to their game plan, shutting down Harper at goal attack and forcing her to increase her work rate.

Rebels coach Megan Anderson will be looking to work on the personal connections to rid the mid-court of bunching through the Easter break. "Balls went astray, there were lots of personal mistakes, they lost their way a bit," she said.

South Aucklanders CMTV Cometz came out firing to overcome the Diamonds 56-50 for the second time in the cup's three-year history.

The Cometz circle defence team of Bobbie McKay and Koren Pickard, with Allison Toi replacing Pickard at the second quarter, denied Davis sufficient ball, aware that once it was in her hands the goal would count.

Cometz coach Ruth Aitken's plan to work hard in the centre third succeeded with Abigail Repia at centre having a stand-out game.

Davis's shooting was still on target. She missed just seven of her 52 attempts at goal.

In other games, the Capital Shakers had a close encounter with the Canterbury Flames winning 46-44 after being all square 25-25 at half time, while the Southern Sting continue to lead the competition table after beating the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic 67-39.