Tawa Exchange 2019 - Senior B Netball by Rose Newbigging/Nikita Sandrey

Pleasing results in annual face-off with Tawa

Nayland College hosted Tawa College this week for our annual sports exchange. Nayland showed some promising results, edging closer and closer to Tawa.

Stand-out results for were the girls hockey, senior A and B and 10A netball, the boys and girls football, and girls basketball. 

The girls hockey started the day with a surprise for the first competitive game. The young team kept an experienced Tawa to 1-0 at half time. They eventually lost 3-0, however they showed plenty of promise for the future of girls hockey at Nayland.

Nayland held their own on the netball court, winning four out of the eight netball games. 10A beat Tawa junior B in the opening game of the junior competition, and then went on to have a very close loss to Tawa junior A 30-33.

The senior B netball team faced Tawa senior A first up where they managed to surprise many people, including the opposition, by keeping the scores locked at half time. Tawa took it to the next level after half time and went on to win the game by eight goals. The Nayland senior B team took their A game with them into the Senior B clash where they dominated, beating the visitors 28-14.

Nayland Senior A netball competed against Tawa Senior B first. The team made a good lead in the first few minutes and made it hard forTawa to come back, going on to win 37-8. However, the netball game of the day had to be when the two senior A sides went head to head. Nayland started off strong and Tawa found it hard to score. Tawa went on to find their groove and pulled their way back to take a three goal lead at half-time.

Some strategic changes in the line up and fresh legs saw Nayland have a dominant quarter with a seven goal turn around, creating a four goal lead going into the final burst. Nayland maintained cool heads and went on to win the match 28-23. This win has been a long time coming for the senior A team.

The girls football was an evenly matched game with the score still tied 1-1 deep into the second half. Both teams had many opportunities to take the lead which Tawa College eventually did by converting a goal near the end of the match, making the final score 2-1. This is a promising result for the young football side.

The Nayland first XI boys football team also squared off against Tawa College for the battle of bragging rights for another year. As the boys game kicked off, intentions were clear that both teams were here to play. The first clear cut opportunity fell to Nayland captain Harry Palmer, who made no mistake when he fired a bullet into the back of the net that gave the visiting keeper no chance. Tawa then hit back with a well-taken chip and a goal from a corner that made it 2-1 to the visitors.

Half-time saw some well-needed words of encouragement and tactical changes but, unfortunately, after the break the visitors scored again, making it 3-1. However, a spirited Nayland never gave up and reward fell to Jose Canno when, after some good interplay, he calmly slotted the goal 3-2.

It then seemed like the game lifted another notch with opportunites at both ends. Even our left back Ben Hefter was shooting from nearly half-way ... ‘Oh wait, that’s not a bad shot ... oh no ... it’s going in!’ And the scores were tied 3-3. Both teams pressed on relentlessly, looking for the deciding goal, but in the end the score stayed even and was a true reflection of the match. That is because Alejandro Fernandez, who had already ran 35km during the game, found himself dribbling in front of the goal and buried the ball into the net, putting the game to bed.

Man of the Match for Nayland went to Ben Heffter, who not only scored the goal of the game, but stopped any opposition trying to get anywhere near our defensive line.

Girls basketball showed dominance from the start and never looked close to losing the match. With experienced play from Hannah Crabtree, the girls were off to a good start and the team continued that form all the way through, winning the game 48-15. Although the team has some experienced players, it also has many juniors. Very exciting for the future of girls basketball at Nayland.

The final overall results saw Tawa take home the trophy by winning nine games to Nayland’s six.