Pulse Rock Steel With Big Win In Invercargill

Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse finished with a flourish to retain the Robyn Broughton Legacy Trophy after posting an impressive 70-45 win over the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel in Invercargill on Sunday.

Honouring the legacy of the late Robyn Broughton, who coached both teams during her long career, the Pulse defused a resurgent third quarter revival from the Steel to stamp their overall dominance with a withering 18-5 fourth quarter burst.

Playing at their spiritual home of Invercargill for the first time this season, the Steel have shown promising signs in returning to their form of old but apart from winning the third quarter 21-14 were largely outclassed by a slick Pulse team.

In registering their highest winning score since 2018, the Pulse dominated across the court, with all in yellow-and-black executing their roles with authority and efficiency. In a consummate team performance, shooter Amelia Walmsley was the key target and rock under the Pulse hoop when converting 50 goals from 51 attempts, to crack her second half-century of the season.

The Steel welcomed Abby Lawson back from injury and into the starter’s bib at goal defence while on-going injury ruled midcourter Kate Heffernan out for a fourth straight week. The Pulse called on a growing settled line-up with midcourters Whitney Souness and Maddy Gordon gathering increased playing minutes in the lead-up.

With enticing match-ups littered across the court, it was the Pulse who settled quickest, seamlessly finding their attacking flow and defensive prowess in the opening minutes to rock the Steel.

The visitors’ back four of Kelly Jackson, Parris Mason, Fa’amu Ioane and Gordon produced an effective wall to cause disconnect and turnover opportunities in the Steel attack line. Dominating the midcourt, Gordon and Souness found perfect positioning for the feed while play-making goal attack Tiana Metuarau’s vision provided on-point long-range ball into the accurate shooting hands of Walmsley.

A ballooning scoreline prompted a tactical timeout and rearranged midcourt for the home side who had plenty of work in front of them when trailing 19-7 at the first break.

Another quick start when scoring the first three goals on the resumption, the Pulse were briefly stalled by a more determined defensive effort from the home side.

Rangy defenders Lawson and Kate Lloyd made the Pulse shooters work harder for their keep while on attack the Steel were able to get more ball into the hands of key strike weapon Aliyah Dunn under the hoop.

But the Pulse responded with a five-goal unanswered run to double their first quarter lead when bolting into the main break with a 38-19 advantage, spearheaded by a faultless 27 from 27 return from Walmsley.

The only option for the Steel was to keep plugging away and that’s exactly what they did during a heartening third stanza response which got the crowd on its feet.

Finding better flow on attack through Kimiora Poi and Serina Daunakamakama, effective ball placement and positioning provided more opportunities for Dunn while the defensive efforts of Khanye-Lii Munro-Nonoa and Carys Stythe handed vital turnover ball into the home team’s hands.

Two super shots by Georgia Heffernan and one to Dunn galvanised the Steel’s efforts while their lift rattled the Pulse enough to cause several turnovers.

Metuarau settled the visitors with her fourth super shot of the match on the buzzer to help the Pulse retain their edge when heading into the last break with a handy 52-40 lead.

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