Monday 2^ndSeptember 2019 was the first day of the Inaugural Lower North Island Secondary School Netball Tournament.  This year the nine schools from Hawke’s Bay made their way to Wellington’s ASB Sports Centre and were in for a treat as it was the first time this tournament was played indoors.  A Grade Teams (NGHS, HGHS, HNHS, Wairoa & Woodford).  B Grade Teams (Taradale, Sacred Heart, Ahuriri William Colenso, Central HB & Iona).  Central Hawke's Bay College had the stand out results for day one, see more information below.

A Grade Summary

In the A Grade draw there are 32 teams in 8 pools of 4. They play a round robin in their pool where teams need to make top two in order to go to top 16 position, they then are placed in another pool of 4, where once again they need to make top two in order to make top 8, quarter finals, then semifinals and finals.  The top 5 teams then qualify for the New Zealand Secondary School Tournament in Nelson from 8 – 11^thOctober 2019.  

Our top seeded team NGHS, winners of both our Club and Secondary School competitions, had an impressive start against fellow HB side Woodford House who were promoted into this grade in 2018 after making the B Grade final (three teams go up from B Grade and three teams go down from A Grade each year).  NGHS won the game convincingly 47 – 18 and then backed it up by another win against Lytton High School in the afternoon 38 – 23.  With just one more game in their pool to play against a lower ranked St Orans College they are looking likely to top their pool.

Hastings Girls High School didn’t have the start they would have liked, going down to Hawera High School 33 – 28, and also a narrow loss to Rua Mano (B Grade winners in 2018) 33 – 31.  With only Wellington East Girls who are a higher ranked team to play in their pool, HGHS will likely be heading into the play off for 16 – 32 ensuring they stay well of the bottom three positions, so they are not relegated to B Grade for 2020.

Havelock North High School lost their first game to Inglewood High School 38 – 15 and also went down in their second game to Palmerston North Girls High School 36 – 16.  With Tawa College to come in their pool they will be hoping to secure their first win of the competition.

Wairoa College had a tough start against a top seeded New Plymouth Girls High team going down 43 – 18, and another loss against Queen Margaret College 40 – 23.  The third team in their pool to play is Paraparaumu College where they will be aiming for the win.  Wairoa College have had an impressive season after winning the Plate final of the Super 12, for a small school from a rural area they are punching well above their weight in A Grade. 

Woodford House as mentioned earlier had tough welcome to A Grade taking on Napier and lost 47 – 18, and then had another loss against St Orans College 43 – 21, showing how tough it is in A Grade, after being runner up in B Grade in 2018.  Woodford have Lytton High School to come in the pool and will be hoping to get some points on the board.

B Grade Summary

This year in B Grade there are 28 teams, split into 4 pool of 7 teams.  Teams play a round robin competition Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, before going into quarter finals, semifinals and finals on Thursday and Friday.  All teams will be aiming for a top three position to be promoted to A Grade for 2020.

Central Hawke’s Bay College after having an awesome season, only narrowly missing out on a final spot in the Unison Super 12 competition after a loss to HGHS, are the highest ranked HB team in B Grade.  They came out strong against Samuel Marsden Whitby and won by a staggering 60 – 7, also won their second game against an invitational team 38 – 25.  They still have four games to go in their pool but will be hoping for a top two finish and go all the way to finals.

Taradale High School had a great start to their 2019 campaign beating Freyberg High School 26 – 20, but unfortunately went down 24 – 22 to Cornerstone School in their second.

Sacred Heart College had a great win against Onslow College 40 – 20, and then went on to defeat Ahuriri William Colenso in their second game 40 – 29.  They will be pleased with their start of the competition, let’s hope their winning streak continues.

Iona College had an awesome win first up in their game against Wellington High School 34 – 13, unfortunately lost their second game to Chilton St James 27 – 21.

Ahuriri William Colenso had a difficult day losing both games, firstly up against Onslow College going down 47 – 18 and then although a slightly closer game against Sacred Heart Napier 40 – 29.  

To view results of Tuesdays games, go to lnissn.org.nz

Article added: Tuesday 03 September 2019