‘Biggest event’ for SA netball
JOHANNESBURG: IT’S the “biggest event” Netball South Africa have hosted and the Proteas hope to celebrate it in fine style over the next five days.
The Quad Series, which also features England, Australia and New Zealand, begins tomorrow.
The Proteas are yet to win a match in the competition, following the first two legs held in Australia and New Zealand in August last year.
But Netball SA chief executive Blanche de la Guerra said: “I’m so excited and proud that we can host the best netball players in the world and it is so wonderful to watch them on court.
“This is the biggest event Netball South Africa will be playing hosts to.”
Last year the South African women suffered a series-opening defeat of 68-43 to Australia before losing 65-46 to world No 2 New Zealand, and 57-44 to the England Roses.
South Africa will open the home-leg against England tomorrow and will be looking to build on the positive start they made against the Roses in their previous clash in Melbourne.
The Proteas led the world No 3 nation after the first quarter before England caught up and took the lead to claim victory.
National captain Bongiwe Msomi said the team had been working hard getting the combinations working as a unit, each time they spend time on the court.
“For the Proteas it is always crucial that we go on court performing at our best,” Msomi said.
“We’ve been working so hard in trying to gel as a team so we are looking forward to growing instead of going backwards. It is always a privilege to play against the best in the world, and we are definitely looking forward to the Quad Series.
“Not to try and catch up but to improve our own game, we’ve been doing that but we are looking for consistency in doing well.”
Proteas coach Norma Plummer of Australia said that although the national team faced the added pressure of performing in front of a home crowd, they had their sights firmly set on closing the gap on the top three sides in the world.
“You can play teams ranked lower than you and get a win or you can get out and get challenged all the time,” Plummer said.
“If they don’t get challenged, they don’t improve, so we know Australia, England and New Zealand have beaten South Africa by 35 or 55 goals in the past.
“In the last Quad Series we were able to lower that, and our challenge is to keep lowering it and keep challenging.”
Australia and New Zealand will face-off in the first match tomorrow before the final round of the South African leg on Tuesday.
You can play teams ranked lower than you and get a win or you can get out and get challenged all the time,” Plummer said.