The Southern Steel suffered its third straight loss, falling 74-40 to the Northern Stars in Auckland last night.
It was second game for both teams of a double-header weekend, another blowout scoreline for the Steel and the third game on the road for the southern side.
Tough start to the season.
In better news, it was the Steel’s highest score for the season and it returns to Invercargill for its first home game next Monday.
The Steel scored off only about 50% of its possession, something that left coach Reinga Bloxham disappointed.
"We just at times weren’t careful enough with out accuracy ... and we just weren’t able to turn over ball," Bloxham said.
"The Stars are the best team at sort of converting any turnovers. They’re very safe with the ball and I think they just punished us when that happened."
It was, again, at better start for the Steel picking up a couple of turnovers. But it had the same problem, not being able to execute the shot.
The Steel struggled on its second phase off the centre pass, lacking depth through the third, and attackers were often found on top of each other.
They were forced to work extra hard outside to feed the ball into the circle, but that often meant it was a forced pass, or a misplaced long feed, resulting in a turnover.
"I think at times when we did get some depth and we played sides together, or pairs, we were able to penetrate the box defence that they were doing.
"But again just probably inconsistent with what we’re doing and really inconsistent with our accuracy."
It was the second quarter that did the most damage.
The Stars went on a seven-goal unanswered run. Elle Timu, playing in her 50th match, and Holly Fowler were stealing tips and all over any lose balls.
Maia Wilson was dominant at the back, mixing up her game by getting on the move balanced with her trademark hold.
That pushed the Stars out to a 35-19 lead at the break.
It was a better start to the third spell for the Steel, with Sam Winders at wing attack, Kate Heffernan at centre and Renee Savai'inaea injected at wing defence.
Yet the Stars still led 52-30 and pushed on further in the final quarter to record its highest score in the ANZ Premiership.
There were a few positives to take out for the visiting team — defensively players limited Crampton’s centre pass receives in the first quarter and the attackers got their hands to some ball on defence.
"You’ve got to look at little things like that because when you lose like that it can be very disheartening and feels like it’s even harder work when you look at the scoreline."
Bloxham looked forward to having the home crowd behind the Steel, as it heads to Invercargill to take on the Tactix next Monday.
ANZ Premiership
The scores
Northern Stars 74
Maia Wilson 56/60, Amorangi Malesala 7/8, Jamie Hume 9/13
Southern Steel 40
Eseta Autagavaia 19/26, Georgia Heffernan 15/23, Jess Allan 6/6
Quarter scores: 16-9, 35-18, 52-30, 74-40
