Resolute Rezzers turn up the heat in the second half

It did not come easily, as the island offensive duo of Donna Brehaut and Steph Batiste successfully hit the net from some pretty tough angles to push the Titans ahead in the early stages.

Many of the greens’ early attacking attempts were unfruitful and great play throughout the court put the purple-clad Titans 16-11 up at 15 minutes.

The purples looked like they could bury the game at any moment, but the defending champions were suitably resolute in turning things around.

At the end of a heated second quarter, Rezzers scored a decisive goal to equalise 29-all at the half-time whistle.

The greens did not look back from there and, following a brief pep talk, returned with a vengeance to score 20 goals apiece for the next two quarters.

Rezzers burst back out of the blocks and established a six-goal advantage within minutes, expanding this to 49-36 by the end of the third quarter.

Titans got back on the mark in the closing stages but, after witnessing plentiful goals from Verona Tomlin and Clare Henry, they were resigned to defeat.

Amid impressive play throughout the field, Titans nominated Rezzers centre Becky Chamberlain as the opposition player of the match.

Rezzers elected GS Brehaut for the equivalent accolade, while their captain, Tiffany Gervaise-Brazier, reflected on a spectacular turnaround.

‘It wasn’t the best start for us today, there were a lot of forced errors in the first half but then we stepped up and actually played some really nice netball in the last half,’ she said.

‘[It was] a good win, the other girls played really, really well today but we started to get a bit more clinical in defence and I was really pleased.

‘I think we needed a bit of a game like that to claw back and really dig deep so it should be a good rest of the season for us, of course we’re defending champions so would like to see that continue.’

Brehaut, who was without three first team regulars – Lorna Hall, Lydia McClean and Shelley Jager – and was forced into positional and personnel changes as Claire Jennings stepped up from the B team and Georgie Fletcher made her A team debut, paid tribute to both sets of players.

‘We were so pleased with our first half performance, with our patient play we felt we frustrated Rezzers,’ said the Titans captain.

‘However, credit to Rezzers for their second half display. They definitely stepped up and found their next gear and were superb.

‘Nonetheless we will take many positives and it was great to give exposure to some of our B team and squad players.’