Hayley Tallentire training with the Mid Canterbury representative netball squad last weekend. Photo Adam BurnsAt the start of the season, Hayley Tallentire had her sights set on a representative age grade netball bib.

On Sunday, the 17-year old will be part of the senior Mid Canterbury side who will vie to defend the Hanan Shield.

Her place among the senior squad cannot be disputed following an outstanding season as the College A front-of-goal linchpin in premier 1 netball.

“I was hoping to play under-18s, but when that got cancelled I decided to try for the seniors,” she said.

Originally from Australia, the Ashburton College Year 13 pupil comes from strong netballing ties.

Her mum, Joe Tallentire, is a local netball stalwart who has served as a rep manager and previously played for New South Wales.

After impressing during Hanan Shield trials, the younger Tallentire got the nod from Mid Canterbury coach Claire Tappin, much to her surprise.

“It was quite close between all four of our shooters so yeah I was quite happy.”

She will be lining up among some classy attacking third exponents including captain Leanne Clemens and Hampstead sharpshooter Alice Eddington.

She said her excitement in facing South Canterbury and North Otago outweighed a minor dose of nerves leading into tomorrow’s games.

Tallentire will also be joined on rep duty by her College A team-mate Poppy Kilworth, who has been another instrumental force at the other end of the court on defence.

Although the young AshColl team haven’t reached the same heights as last year when the side went on a run to clinch the Mid Canterbury premier 1 title, Tallentire said it was about developing the skills of some of the younger players in the elite grade.

“This year has been about developing some of the young ones coming through and building a strong team for next year.”

It has not stopped Tallentire from commanding the front area of the court by exhibiting game awareness and shooting accuracy strengths.

She said she embraced directing play in and around the circle.

“I like being the leader in the circle and guiding the goal attack, or if I’m in goal attack then the goal shoot.”

Tallentire is one of the three Year 13 players who will be moving on at the end of the season including Kilworth and goal shoot Sophie Adams.

Next year she is relocating to Christchurch where she will set herself up for the next phase of a representative push through the Beko League and potentially the Tactix as she enjoys a gap year.

“I’m hoping to one day play for the Tactix.”

By Adam Burns © The Ashburton Guardian - 4 September 2020

Pip Johnston brings the ball up. Photo supplied.Brian Kerr offers his thoughts on the final night of pool play in Men’s A Grade basketball action on Wednesday night at the Oxford Street Stadium.

The final two games of the final round were played at Oxford Street on Wednesday night.

They determined the final standings for the beginning of the semi-finals to start next week, culminating in the final to be played on September 23.

The first game was between Nomads and the improving Wildlife team.

It was Nomads who started fastest out of the blocks as they got out to a 7-0 lead.

Wildlife finally managed to get themselves sorted as they took a slender 15-14 lead in a scrappy first quarter.

Nomads started off well again as they were able to find holes in the Wildlife defence, pushing the score out to double figures.

Wildlife began to find their range from outside to draw themselves closer and only trail 37-30 at the break.

The third quarter was a better start for Wildlife, as they chipped away at the lead whilst Nomads took time to resettle.

It was another scrappy, low-scoring quarter but more importantly for Wildlife, they only were only three points down at 48-45 at the end of the quarter.

The fourth quarter was where Wildlife made their run as they went on a 0-3 run to claim back the lead 54-51.

A timeout by Nomads stopped the rot, then an absorbing last few minutes were played out as they battled it out, working hard to take the victory.

It was Wildlife that made a couple of big plays by taking the ball strongly to the hoop, and in turn were able to maintain the lead finally taking out the match 65-60 in a lphysical encounter.

For Wildlife it was Emiliano Guerra leading the way with 21 points with another good display. He was hard to stop on the drive and was able to drop the shot when it was needed.

Xavier Bartlett was good all-round as he netted 15 points.

Liam O’Connor continued on his good form with 12 points and Sean Hunter contributed 11, including a couple of big plays late in the fourth quarter.

For Nomads, Kody Stuthridge had a good return with 25 points, while Tony Gilbert worked hard for his 11 points.

The next game was a top-of-the-table clash between Newlands and MSA Team Donkey.

It started pretty evenly until Team Donkey’s transition from defence to offence caught out the lax Newlands defence to take a 21-12 lead. A timeout was required to rectify this, and Newlands trailed 29-23 at the end of the first quarter.

Newlands started the second quarter well and started making inroads into the lead, however Team Donkey responded well and were able to maintain their six point margin at 52-46.

The third quarter started fairly evenly, however Team Donkey matching up defensively caused problems for Newlands as they struggled offensively.

On the flip side Team Donkey were able to find gaps in the Newlands defence, to extend their lead to 77-66.

The final quarter saw Team Donkey start positively stretching the lead out to 18 points with Newlands staring down the barrel of a blowout.

Then came the Newlands fightback, as they started breaking down the Team Donkey defence to get on a roll and draw the score back to six points.

It forced a timeout but still Newlands came back at them – back to a three-point difference.

Team Donkey were able to maintain their lead as Newlands pressed full court, however Team Donkey were able to absorb the pressure and held out to win 95-91 in a top game of basketball.

For Team Donkey, it was Pip Johnston back to his long-range best, scoring 38 points including eight three points, in a very good overall display.

He was backed up by the hardworking Cam Butler, who scored 32 points and was deadly inside the paint.

For Newlands, it was Ramil Ilumin leading the charge with 25 points.

He was good at both ends securing a number of boards, and at times Team Donkey found him hard to contain on the offensive end.

Randy Buenafe continued on his good form with 18 points, Marc Juntilla darting his way to 13 points and Marvin Agacer 11.

This game showed the danger of Johnston and giving him a hint of space from three-point range. When he got a sniff, he buried it.

A top match between the two top teams this season.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 4 September 2020

Matt Clough is taking a break from the top class stuff. Photo suppliedThere is more to life than sport – especially during these times.

That is certainly the way Ashburton multisport hero Matthew Clough views things, despite toiling his way to the top of his sport.

After battling his way back from a serious injury last year, the 20-year-old decided he was going to take the year off to focus on his studies, following this year’s Coast to Coast event.

“I hadn’t had a proper break for about four years,” he said.

“I would race the summer season over in New Zealand and then I’d be training towards world champs which would be around the New Zealand winter – so I’d be training 365 days a year almost.

“I decided that I was going to give the body a rest.”

With Covid coming along to throw sporting competitions and events into disarray, the timing was strangely well-suited as far as Clough’s plans for a competitive breather.

He accepted the award for Outstanding Senior Sportsperson at the Mid Canterbury Sports Awards via a video call from his Dunedin flat earlier this year.

Clough, who has donned the silver fern abroad in recent times, said the crisis still cast some doubt over his career in the short-term.

“Nobody in the world knows when it’s all going to go back to normal, and when overseas travel is going to be allowed.

“It’s real uncertain times at the moment, not just for me, but for everyone else in the world.”

After an eventful 2019 highlighted by a world title triumph at the World Under-20 Cross Tri Championships in Spain and a serious injury, taking some time out physically is probably a rather wise decision as Clough works his way through a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Otago University.

Clough knows all too well that the risk of injury is never beyond the realms of possibility.

Not wanting to risk anything, he prudently opted to wait until he had returned from his world championship engagement in April before playing football with his hall of residence buddies.

He returned from Spain a world champion; however after a fortnight back he ended up in A&E with a broken ankle after being struck down at football practice.

“I was like, now is probably the best time for it to happen.

“I just had it in the back of my mind that I wasn’t going to play in case something happens, and that reinforced that point.”

While the injury in a way was timely that it occurred on the right side of a world championship showing, the damage was significant enough to put the squeeze on preparation for this year’s Coast to Coast.

“I had eight months (until the Coast to Coast) and I’m in a cast for eight weeks,” he said.

“I had to teach myself to walk, then run.

“It was quite a struggle.”

It was October until Clough was able to run properly, before tearing into training for the Coast about a month later.

A month before Coast to Coast he went for his first off-road run since breaking his ankle.

“I ran about 10 kilometres, not very long compared to what you do in the Coast.

“I got back home that night and it was swollen and bruised, and got up the next morning and I was struggling to walk.”

After some prompt physiotherapy, he got in enough training to line up at the event back in February, where he finished third in the open category in the two-day individual event and fourth overall after registering a time of 11hrs 50mins.

It was a remarkable accomplishment considering he was content with simply finishing the race more than a month out.

“I’m such a competitive person, I can’t just muck around and do this slowly,” he said.

“I gave what I got.”

With no concrete plans to resume training, Clough is now enjoying a deserved break as he completes his studies and assesses his future options amid some uncertain times.

By Adam Burns © The Ashburton Guardian - 3 September 2020