Columba taking on Chch team for spot in SI final

Columba College will play Christchurch Girls’ for a spot in the South Island secondary schools netball final this morning.

The Dunedin school, seeded third heading into the competition, finished top of their pool in Invercargill yesterday, after gliding past Nelson 48-19 and Villa Maria 38-25.

St Andrew’s will play St Margaret's, the top seeds, in the other top semifinal.

Southland Girls’ had two strong performances yesterday and will play St Hilda’s this morning. They beat Otago Girls’ 45-36 and Cromwell 33-18.

St Hilda’s beat Verdon 39-21, but lost 33-30 to St Andrew’s, missing a place in the top semifinals.

Otago Girls’ will play Waitaki Girls’ today, having also lost to St Margaret's 47-24.

 - The John McGlashan First XI suffered their first defeat in hockey’s Rankin Cup, losing 3-0 to St Bede’s in Wellington yesterday. St Bede’s player Connor Grey scored in the first quarter and again in the 59th minute, and captain Finlay Neale added another to claim a strong win.

Otago Boys’ lost 2-1 in a shootout against Paraparaumu in the India Shield clash.

The scores were level 3-3 at fulltime but Paraparaumu managed to secure the win after Matthew Kennedy and Blake Whitfield converted their shots.

St Hilda’s also came up short, losing 3-1 to St Andrew’s in the Federation Cup in Christchurch.

Columba found themselves on the right side of the scoreboard after a 3-1 win over Carmel College in the Marie Fry Trophy game.

Both netball and hockey tournaments finish today.