College A’s Poppy Kilworth reaches for a pass during her side’s win over Celtic A on Thursday night. Photo Erin TaskerCollege A finished the Mid Canterbury Netball premier one round robin in fine fashion on Thursday night to ensure they headed into the finals as the firm favourites.

A huge start by the young school side put them out to a big early lead against the defending champion Celtic A side, which set them up for a 33-18 win that put them well and truly in the top spot on the ladder.

The only team not to have been beaten in the season’s third and final championship round, College A finished on 20 competition points, seven points clear of second placed Celtic A, while Hampstead A’s 30-21 win over Mt Somers on Thursday night put them into third spot heading into the semi-finals.

The fourth and final semi-final spot went the way of United A, despite the Claire Tappin-coached side going down in a nail-biter on Thursday night, 23-22 to Methven A.

The results mean that College A will play United A in one semi-final next week, while Celtic A will play Hampstead A, with Methven A finishing one point outside the top four.

The bonus point that United A picked up for finishing within three in that last game against Methven gave them the edge, although had the two finished tied on points United A would have been the team to go through anyway, due to a superior goal difference.

Thursday night’s win was just Methven A’s second of the round, and although it wasn’t enough to sneak them into the semi-finals, coach Maree Firth was happy with the performance.

“We wanted to play with pride, Methven netball is about that, and we just wanted to show that we could do it,” Firth said.

Methven were forced to play the first half without the services of shooter Leanne Clemens, who got a bleeding nose just before the game started, which kept her off the court until half-time.

Despite that, Methven seemed to have an edge for much of the game, with United having to do more of the chasing in what was a tight game from start to finish.

For Celtic A though, it was a different story, with their final round opposition – College A – making a fast start for the second week running.

By half-time they led 19-8, but Celtic A are not a side to lie down and they came back strong in the third quarter, going on a 7-1 run to bring it back to 20-15 before College A settled back into their work.

College A coach Kaye Kennedy said the fact that her players managed to stop that third quarter roll and regain their composure, was pleasing.

“I was very proud of the way they played.

“It was a real battle,” Kennedy said.

Celtic A coach Ange Leadley took nothing away from College A.

“We let them get out to a strong start so we were chasing, and that’s not great against a side like College,” Leadley said.

“I have to really acknowledge their goal shooter, when you’re playing a team with a shooter like that at the back … it was quite exciting, at one point she missed two goals and we rebounded them.”

That shooter was Hayley Tallentire, and she was one of the competition’s steadiest and most consistent, whereas on Thursday night, Celtic A struggled at times.

Leadley said her side actually put up one more shot than College A, in the 15-goal loss.

While Celtic A had gone through last season unbeaten to claim the premier one title, this season College A have had the edge.

Celtic A came back to land a last-minute goal to see their round one encounter end in a draw, but round two and round three have well and truly belonged to College.

Their performances mean they are now the team to beat, while down the other end of the points table is Mt Somers, a team that finished the third and final round without a win.

They took on Hampstead A on Thursday night and things were tight early on, with Hampstead holding a 11-5 lead at the end of the first quarter, before Mt Somers won the second quarter to close the gap to 14-11 at half time.

But Hampstead A held firm and took the win to set up a semi-final showdown with Celtic A – a side they beat back at the start of the round.

Meanwhile, in premier two, the semi-finalists have already been found going into the final games of round three.

Top contenders Celtic B and Southern A were again in winning form, with Celtic B downing College B 36-24 and Southern A beating Methven B 48-20.

The night’s other game between Celtic C and Hampstead B went the way of Hampstead B 29-24.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 8 August 2019