It’s going to be tough for SA to stay in the running against fierce Aussies

THE PROTEAS are under no illusions just how fierce and intense tomorrow’s first Test of the inaugural Netball Quad Series against world champions the Australian Diamonds will be.

And experienced centre Erin Burger can vouch for how much effort will be required to keep pace with the super-slick Australians – after tracking her exertion in a training match earlier this week.

Burger – with 85 Tests, the most capped player in the Proteas team – wore a GPS tracking device during the team’s training clash with New Zealand A and was startled by the results.

When she played in the recent national championships, she ran around 3km in distance per game. But against the New Zealand side, she racked up around 9km in the three-quarters that she was on court.

“It was something I was interested in finding out – just how fit I am, and how I could better that,” says Burger, who was the player of the tournament at the 2011 World Championships in Singapore.

“And it’s very interesting that it revealed exactly what we lack – the intensity in our game. We are used to training long, but not that intense.” But that’s something Burger,

believes is now changing under the coaching regime of highly-experienced coach Norma Plummer. “We’ve learned a lot from Norma and Nicole (Cusack, the co-coach). Just listening to someone who has been there, and who has lived it,” she said.

Plummer, who previously coached Australia to two world championship titles, says the results from Burger’s experiment highlighted the furious pace that top international netball is played at, and how the Proteas will have to give a sustained effort for 60 minutes to handle that.

Playing the world No 1 team first up is going to be challenging for the new-look Proteas side, Plummer concedes. New Zealand also face England in a double-bill tomorrow.

“The Diamonds’ sheer defensive pressure all through the court will be really tough. And they have probably the two best shooters in the world at the moment. They may have new players in the side, but there is so much depth in Australian netball,” Plummer added. “We’re not kidding ourselves, but we are hoping that we will be able to lower the score difference. It’s about little steps and I think we will be able to see a difference.” – ANA