Those in contention to etch their name on the Margaret Forsyth Cup have emerged after the completion of two days of pool play at the 2026 Netball NZ U18 Champs being hosted by the Christchurch Netball Centre.
With the tournament being played indoors at the new purpose-built Ng膩 Puna Wai sports complex, the quality of competition was enhanced as the more fancied teams left their mark in the welcome weather-perfect venue ahead of Wednesday's post-section play.
With 39 teams in attendance, up from 35 last year, in the women's U18 grade, all teams will now be allocated into three groups with the top two teams from each of the original eight pools completing the top 16 Championship. The second group will contest the Plate for places 17鈥�32, while the bottom six will play in the Bowl and final place playoffs for 33rd to 39th.
Seven teams 鈥� defending champions Wait膩kere 1, Dunedin, Wellington Black, Hawke鈥檚 Bay, Manawat奴, Auckland 1 and Tauranga 鈥� went through pool play unbeaten while North Harbour topped Pool F by a narrow one point from Taranaki after both recorded three wins from four outings.
A narrow 40-39 win over Hamilton City A helped Manawat奴 squeeze into top spot in Pool E.
Rotorua, Auckland 2, Wait膩kere 2, Christchurch Whero, Hamilton City A, Eastern Bay of Plenty and Hutt Valley rounded out the top 16 and the opportunity to compete for the title. New pools, with teams seeded according to their pool finishing positions will consist of four teams of four for the top 16 knockout stage.
Pool crossover matches will take place on Wednesday morning ahead of top eight quarter-final matches in the afternoon where players will be challenged on more even terms the deeper the tournament goes.
The semi-finals will be played on Thursday morning with the final being played at 2.45pm that afternoon.
Down on numbers this year, the men鈥檚 U18 tournament consists of four teams, including an Invitational team that will not be eligible for the title, with Wait膩kere leading the charge. The defending champions completed a perfect four from four in comfortable fashion after the opening two days with the well-performed Invitational team suffering just the one loss.
The men鈥檚 competition will complete their phase of pool games on Wednesday ahead of the semi-finals and final on Thursday.
There鈥檚 plenty of interest in the next generation of rising talent in the women鈥檚 competition, with a handful of those on show following in the footsteps of their famous mothers, including India Nash, former Silver Fern Bernice Mene鈥檚 daughter turning out for the Auckland 1 side while Ruby Hore is playing for the Dunedin team with her former Silver Ferns mum Belinda Colling at the helm as coach.
Also in the talented Dunedin side is Kiana Brown, daughter of former Silver Fern Jodi Brown while Charlotte Galvan is in the Christchurch Whero line-up, her mum Anna Galvan, a former Silver Fern and current 91色情片 board member.
Launched in 2021, the NNZ U18 Champs honour former Silver Ferns shooting great Margaret Forsyth, who passed away in 2021, with teams vying for the trophy which bears her name.
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