The South African national netball team have suffered their first loss of their 2007 Netball Wold Championship campaign in Auckland, New Zealand, after going down 62-32 to England earlier on Wednesday.
The South African squad has enjoyed an unblemished progression at the World Champs until their encounter against England, and following their third and last pool round match, have emerged second on the Pool D log to progress to the quarter-finals, to be played on Thursday.
The bad news is that, having finished second in Pool D, SA is now destined to face hosts and world no.1-ranked New Zealand in their next encounter, a side which has conceded only 70 goals against, compared with 247 goals scored.
The South African team has by contrast allowed 126 goals to be scored against them, while having 155 have been scored in the effort, and should Burta de Kock’s charges manage to do the impossible and beat the hosts on Thursday, this will be an upset of cataclysmic proportions.
That result will see South Africa face the winner of the quarter-final draw between Australia and the Cook Islands in the tournament’s semi-finals, while a more likely loss to New Zealand would mean a play-off against the losing side of the two, for a place in the final top eight, and a chance to reaffirm the country’s existing International Federation of Netball Association’s fifth-placed ranking.
Results at the Netball World Championship at the Trusts Stadium, in Auckland, New Zealand, on Wednesday, 13 November, 2007:
South Africa 32 – 62 England
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