It was a successful jaunt across the Tasman for the Queensland Firebirds who were unbeaten at the fixture after accounting for the Central Pulse 48-39 this morning.

New coach Roselee Jencke relished the opportunity to tackle the New Zealand style.

“It`s really good for us to come here and get a touch of all the Kiwi teams,” she said.

“It`s good experience for our girls to play against that style ... and know they can work through it successfully.”

A highlight was turning around a 12-goal deficit to salvage a 50-50 draw against the Steel on Saturday night.

“In this competition, you can`t afford to be in that chase position – you have to ensure you are level pegging,” Jencke said.

“It`s character building and if they`re ever in that position again they know they have the ability to knuckle down and come through it.”

Pulse coach Yvette McCausland-Durie said signs were encouraging.

“It`s early and one can`t be angling for perfection. This tournament has been so worthwhile just to get a bit of a steer – we know where the gaps are now,” she said.

“Our team has very high expectations of ourselves ... we really expect to be a lot more competitive this year. The potential is there and you get really excited about what might be but you try not to get too far ahead of yourself either.”

The Northern Mystics headed home with just one win under its belt – a 71-39 thumping of the AIS team.

However, captain Temepara George said the Mystics achieved their main objective – trialling various combinations.

“Obviously winning was something we wanted to do but it wasn`t our first priority,” she said.

“We learned from our losses and that`s important. This tournament has definitely shown what we need to work on. I think we`re heading in the right direction – we`re definitely not perfect but you don`t really want to be perfect at this stage.”

While George dubbed her own team`s performance “dismal”, the Canterbury Tactix will take heart from its win over the Mystics on Saturday. After losing 40-50 to the Pulse today, the Tactix only other victories came against the AIS – a team of raw talent.

The “highly competitive” nature of the tournament pleased coach Helen Mahon-Stroud.

“We`ve been able to see the capabilities of our players and how they work in different positions ... it`s a comprehensive pre-season build-up and just gives them a really good hard workout,” she said.

Results from Sunday, February 21:
Mystics 71 AIS 39
Firebirds 48 Pulse 39
Steel 54 AIS 50
Pulse 50 Tactix 40