Gauteng North and Western Province continued to dominate the Inter-provincial Tournament here at the Howard College Sports Hall yesterday as both registered wins on day four of the competition.
Gauteng North got proceedings off to a cool start when they registered a convincing 43-34 victory against the Nelson Mandela region. Province, meanwhile, didn’t have it as easy as their fellow table-toppers, as they played out the nail-biter of the week against North West South.
Coached by former national captain, Marlene Wagner, North West South have emerged as the real surprise package here this week and Province only managed to clinch their 40-37 victory in the dying moment of the game.
The first quarter was played to a 12-all draw and the lead changed hands continually throughout the rest of the match. It was a strong defensive performance from Province in the end that saw them hang on for the win.
Province coach, Susanne van Niekerk, said it was her team’s loss to Gauteng North on Wednesday that gave them a wake-up call.
“We expected the game to a very tough one it turned out to be quite exciting too,” said van Niekerk, “The loss against Gauteng North definitely gave us the motivation to hang on to the win.”
The match was also a very physical affair with time-outs being called every so often as the players knocked each other about on court, and van Niekerk had to change tactics to keep her players out of trouble.
“I had to move some players around to get past their tall defensive wall, and also opted for long ball, as the match became rougher and tougher,” she said.
Gauteng North and Western Province still have one round of matches to play today– against Free State and the Nelson Mandela region respectively – before the semi-finals on Friday afternoon.
The knockouts will be contested between Gauteng North, North West South, Boland and Province, but the fixtures will be decided by the two earlier matches. Van Niekerk, though, already made a bold prediction.
“We have to improve on our centre passes and try and if we can do that then I will say we going to win it.”
Also yesterday, the South African national team played a practice match against the Zululand men’s team.
A 60-43 win for the girls in green and gold indicates that everything is on track, as they prepare for the Netball World Cup taking place in Auckland, New Zealand in November.
Results of the SPAR National Netball Championships played at KwaZulu-Natal University Indoor Sports Centre, Howard Campus on Thursday, 9 August 2007:
Women’s Section A:
Gauteng North 49 – 34 Nelson Mandela
North West South 57 – 49 Free State
Boland 59 – 31 Zululand
Gauteng East 54 – 43 Gauteng Central
West Province 46 – 43 North West South
Boland 49 – 37 Free State
Women’s Section B:
Amathole 54 – 28 Limpompo North East
Western Province 44 – 41 Swartland
Lowveld 50 – 48 Gauteng Vaal
Capricorn 45 – 35 Amathole
Gauteng East 71 – 39 Griqualand West
Swartland 53 – 12 Limpompo North East
Gauteng Vaal 48 – 34 Western Province
Women’s Section C:
North West East 43 – 30 Griqualand West
Gauteng West 42 – 38 Highveld
Midlands 51 – 39 OR Tambo
North West 63 – 24 North West Central
Waterberg 66 – 30 Central Boland
Griqualand West 55 – 38 North West Central
South Western District 49 – 37 Central Boland
North West East 35 – 32 Ethekwini
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