Kereru’s winning run has come to an end after the defending champions were held to a draw by Lincoln University in the penultimate game of club netball’s championship round.

But coach Ricki Clark believes it was a timely result at Bishopdale YMCA on Tuesday night with the business end of the Christchurch Netball Centre’s season looming.

“I can see it as a positive because we were put under some real pressure tonight,” he said.  “It’s probably really good for us to be challenged and it kind of reveals the stuff that we need to work on going into the play-offs.”

Kereru went through the 2016 season unbeaten and only Technical, who is also unbeaten in the championship round, looked to be the team to seriously threaten its record this year with just one more game before the finals series.

Lincoln University has however added plenty of intrigue to the last few weeks of the premier league with the inclusion of Tactix shooter Ellie Bird, who was this week named in the Silver Ferns Development Squad, making a key difference to their latest performance.

Bird netted 43 of her team’s 57 goals and was a strong target in the circle as her side had to fight hard over the tenacious Kereru defence.

The university side led 14-11 at the first break and by three goals at half-time but six straight goals from Kereru early in the third spell saw momentum shift.

Clark introduced Erin McDuff to goal attack where she teamed up with Julianna Naoupu in the shooting circle – a move which looked to be a game changer for Kereru as the “crafty” duo found plenty of space and missed just one attempt at goal.

But Lincoln University came from behind with a strong spell through the middle of the fourth quarter and had the opportunity to steal the victory, only to be called for an infringement in the shooting circle in the last minute of play to allow Kereru to level the scores.

The draw with the defending champions gives Lincoln University an edge into a must-win game against Saints next week – they will still need either a draw or win to extend their season but will take plenty of confidence from their performance against Kereru.

They go head-to-head with Saints in the last game of the championship to see who joins Technical and Kereru in the play-offs.

Saints held their composure in a willing contest against St Nicholas to win 58-46 and keep their season alive.

Defenders Terri Carlsen and Kelsey Church worked hard to deprive ball from St Nicholas shooter Olivia Coughlan while Tactix goal attack Brooke Leaver combined well with Taylor Rosie-Forrester in the shooting circle.

Saints led 31-21 at half-time but lost their rhythm up front in the third spell, thanks to plenty of pressure applied by St Nicholas’ defence, before regaining their confidence in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Technical moved to the top of the points table with a convincing 74-38 win over Halswell with coach Andrea Cousins using her full bench during the game.

Technical finished the first quarter strongly, netting a flurry of goals in the dying minutes to lead 19-9 at the break.  Goal attack Gemma Hazeldine dominated play up front landing all but two of her 16 attempts.

Cousins made changes to her line-up at every break but Technical were relentless in their win over Halswell.

The premier grand final will be played on August 29.

Results:

Kereru 57 (Julianna Naoupu GS 35/40, Claudia Lewis GA1 12/16, Erin McDuff GA2 10/12) drew with Lincoln University 57 (Ellie Bird GS 43/52, Bella James GA 8/9, Kate Grant GA2 6/6).  Quarter scores:  11-14, 28-31, 45-42, 57-57.

Saints 58 (Taylor Rosie-Forrester GS1 16/21, Brooke Leaver GA1 37/43, Leaver GS2 0/0, Danielle Kerwin GA2 0/0, Kerwin GS3 1/1, Rosie-Forrester GA3 4/4) beat St Nicholas 46 (Olivia Coughlan GS 36/52, Caitlin Adlam GA1 5/11, Sarah Martyn GA2 5/6).  Quarter scores:  16-12, 32-21, 42-33, 58-46.

Technical 74 beat Halswell 38.  Quarter scores:  19-9, 37-23, 57-29, 74-38.