Pulse reach for the Stars

June 13, 2017

Pulse reach for the Stars

It’s familiar territory for Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse whose play-off aspirations hinge on the outcome oftomorrow’s key ANZ Premiership netball clash with the Northern Stars in Porirua.

In must-win mode for the past two weeks, successive positive results have helped push the Pulse into a more favourable position, the dangerous Stars now the only obstacle standing in their way of progressing to the post-season Finals Series.

The Stars have hit their straps in the second half of the season, the new entity taking time to find their feet initially but with plenty of talent in the ranks and the likely return of inspiring captain Leana de Bruin from injury, are more than capable of spoiling the Pulse’s best laid plans.

``The Stars is a critical one where we’re very conscious if we nail it, that we’ve got the potential to make it through to the Elimination Final, so it’s just trying to manage the process and we’re much better when we keep focussed on us,’’ Pulse coach Yvette McCausland-Durie said.

``We’re very aware the Stars have had some very good games in recent weeks and of their firepower.

``They are going to be a real threat to us and we know that could derail our season. We started work in that area straight after our last game as we’ve only got one training (Tuesday) in which to execute what we need to do to make the adjustments in our plan.’’

The Pulse have enjoyed comfortable wins over their northern rivals in the two previous contests but with quality wins over the Northern Mystics and Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic in recent weeks, the Stars cannot be taken lightly.

With just two rounds of the regular season remaining, the Stars cannot make the play-offs but with nothing to lose and without the weight of expectation present as a tricky opponent.

``I feel confident that we have the capacity to take the next game but we’re also very aware that that requires us to be very vigilant on the processes and that includes the whole of our preparation throughout the week,’’ McCausland-Durie said.

``Across the whole court we’ve still got room to grow and I don’t think we’ve played our best match yet.’’

The coach would like to see the growing confidence of the Pulse on attack to continue with more movement while mixing up between using a short and a long game. Defensively, she is looking for opportunities to get gains earlier through the mid-third and creating turnover gains through more mobility inside the circle.

With three teams – Pulse, Mystics and Magic – battling for two spots in the Finals Series and a number of scenarios that could play out, there’s been no looking too far ahead for McCausland-Durie.

``We’re aware of what’s happening but there’s matches still to play with a lot riding on them,’’ she said.

``We have to just keep very clear about what we can control and that’s simply about coming back to us being focussed on what we need to do in this match against the Stars because that’s all we can control at this stage.’’

ENDS.

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