The South African national netball team is up against it, and with good cause: After a gamely loss to fourth-ranked England in their final Pool Round fixture, the fifth-ranked international side will face defending champions, New Zealand’s Silver Ferns in their quarter-finals clash on Thursday.
England beat South Africa 62-32 on Tuesday to earn top-spot in the Pool D rankings, and a relatively comfortable fixture against Pool A runners-up, Malawi, who squeaked through 55-52 against Wales to challenge England.
In their final Pool round fixture against Botswana, New Zealand coach Ruth Aitken expressed dissatisfaction with her team’s performance: "It was a bit of a ‘hmm’ way to end, which isn’t what we wanted.
"They’re disappointed when their performance is not the way they want it so they beat themselves up sometimes too much."" said Aitken, after her side’s 76-20 win.
That might not seem like too much to worry about, but the South African side will be needing every bit of encouragement ahead of the mammoth task of attempting to beat the tournament’s form side.
While it may be a dream too far, every member in coach Burta de Kock’s team will be preparing to play their hearts out, and that is as much as a country and a coach can reasonably ask for. Good luck Proteas!
(0 rating, 0 votes, rated)
Loading...
