The Robinhood Stars have wrapped up their ANZ Premiership pre-season campaign with four valuable matches at the Te Wānanga o Raukawa hosted tournament in Ōtaki.
The Stars opened the tournament with a 60-34 win over the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel in their sole match on day one, before starting day two with a 47-27 triumph over the Splice Construction Waikato Magic.
Hosts the Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse then provided a stern challenge in the final game of day two and handed the Stars a 61-53 defeat.
The Stars finished the tournament with a hard fought encounter against the Good Oil Tactix. Nothing could separate the two teams by the final whistle, with the match finishing in a 49-all draw.
Stars coach Kiri Wills is feeling pretty good about how the tournament went.
“Those first two games gave us a confidence boost and then the game against the Pulse sat us back down and we had to think about things.”
Wills said.
”Today’s game against the Tactix was about consolidating things we’d been working on the whole weekend, so a 49-all draw against what I consider to be one of the best teams on paper is very hopeful for us.”
All 12 players were able to enjoy decent minutes throughout the tournament - something Wills said was important.
”Sometimes mixing people around can upset the apple cart, but I felt everyone did their jobs really well and we’ve got the ability to use those changes to push our game further.” Wills said.
The Stars will now continue preparations for their ANZ Premiership season opener against the Pulse in Palmerston North on April 18.
Te Wānanga o Raukawa pre-season tournament results:
Robinhood Stars 60 vs Ascot Park Hotel Steel 34
Robinhood Stars 47 vs Splice Construction Magic 27
Robinhood Stars 53 vs Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse 61
Robinhood Stars 49 vs Good Oil Tactix 49
