IT was an action-packed first day at the 2021 Rise Again Festival in Manchester, with the home fans seeing plenty of promising signs from their Thunder outfit. Manchester Thunder went undefeated from its two games, whilst the Men’s side – Manchester Spartans – also got an early call-up, replacing Severn Stars in the tournament on day one due to the Stars’ forced withdrawal through illness and injury.

On-court, it was the VNSL title contenders who strut their stuff well, with Manchester Thunder, Leeds Rhinos and Saracens Mavericks who all grabbed both wins on day one. The Thunder took care of Celtic Dragons and Wasps Netball by 17 goals each to be the clear standout from Saturday’s play. Leeds had a tougher outing against Loughborough Lightning, winning by two goals, and then just one against the Knights’ men’s side, while the Mavericks knocked off London Pulse by nine goals, then the Spartans by 16.

There were plenty of other contests going down to the wire, with Team Bath having two nail-biters. First Bath scraped over the line against Strathclyde Sirens by two goals, before going down to Surrey Storm by three after lunch. Showing the evenness of that group, the Sirens then took down the Storm by six goals in the final match of the day.

After the Wasps were well beaten by the Thunder, they bounced back to record a win over Celtic Dragons by 10 goals. Meanwhile, Loughborough Lightning defeated Knights Men by 10 goals and London Pulse took down Spartans Men by 20.

SATURDAY RESULTS

Match 1: Loughborough Lightning (40) defeated Knights Men (30)
Match 2: London Pulse (39) defeated Spartans Mens (19)
Match 3: Manchester Thunder (45) defeated Celtic Dragons (28)
Match 4: Team Bath (33) defeated Strathclyde Sirens (31)
Match 5: Leeds Rhinos (31) defeated Loughborough Lightning (29)
Match 6: Saracens Mavericks (31) defeated London Pulse (22)

Match 7: Manchester Thunder (38) defeated Wasps (21)
Match 8: Surrey Storm (35) defeated Team Bath (32)
Match 9: Leeds Rhinos (34) defeated Knights Men (33)
Match 10: Saracens Mavericks (39) defeated Spartans Mens (23)
Match 11: Wasps (34) defeated Celtic Dragons (24)
Match 12: Strathclyde Sirens (34) defeated Surrey Storm (28)

SUNDAY SCHEDULE:

With the regular round-robin done and dusted, there is plenty of action in store for today, with the third group playoffs and cross-over matches (semi-finals) to determine the placings for a playoff for each position. Unfortunately Leeds Rhinos will not be competing, leaving it to the top 11 placings. Celtic Dragons, Spartans Men’s and Surrey Storm will battle out for the bottom three spots in the day, kicking off with the opening game, and then two others through the schedule.

9th -11th Place Playoff:

Match 13: Spartans Men’s vs. Celtic Dragons
Match 16: Surrey Storm vs. Spartans Men’s
Match 19: Celtic Dragons vs. Surrey Storm

The remaining eight teams are broken up into top four and fifth to eighth groups to determine which sides should ultimately battle it out for glory in the final. In the fifth to eighth playoffs, the Knights Men’s, London Pulse, Wasps and Team Bath all feature.

5th-8th Place Playoff:

Match 14: Knights Men’s vs. London Pulse
Match 15: Wasps vs. Team Bath

The top four sides without Leeds Rhinos features the two undefeated teams in Mavericks and Thunder, going up against the two next most impressive outfits in Lightning and Sirens to ultimately determine who reaches the Grand Final. The two winners advance there for the final game of the day, whilst the losers playoff for third.

1st-4th Place Playoff:

Match 17: Loughborough Lightning vs. Saracens Mavericks
Match 18: Manchester Thunder vs. Strathclyde Sirens

After lunch, aside from the Dragons-Storm clash, the last four games will be the two losers from the fifth to eighth playoffs, followed by the two winners. These matches will determine the fifth to eighth final placings, whilst the third and fourth will clash, before the Rise Again Festival Grand Final takes place at 5:50pm local time.