Former South African and current New Zealand netball shooting superstar Irene van Dyk is showing her former team some respect ahead of their World Championship quarterfinal clash set for Thursday, so she refuses to talk up the Silver Ferns’ chances.
Van Dyk, who moved to New Zealand in 2000 and was part of the Proteas 1995 World Championship silver-medal-winning side, has kept a keen eye on the Spar Proteas side throughout the tournament. The Proteas lost 62-32 to England in their final group stage match on Tuesday, thus finishing second in Pool D and drawing the Silver Ferns in the quarterfinals.
”England didn’t have it easy because the Proteas were able to put some good passages of play together,” she reckoned. ”They’ve have improved in all their games so far, so we expect them to go up another level against us.”
The low road coming into the tournament would be losing to England and drawing New Zealand in the next round, and that’s the one the Proteas find themselves on now. The Silver Ferns have cleaned up Pool A, but after a flat yet victorious display against a determined Botswana side on Tuesday, they won 76-20. Van Dyk is confident her side will recover.
”We struggled against Botswana because they tend to play backward a lot of the time and we aren’t used to that sort of style,” she said. ”The Proteas play more like us, so we are looking forward to taking them on.”
A 94-25 loss to the Silver Ferns in July last year will be fresh in both teams’ memories, but the circumstances are much different this time around.
Last year, the Proteas had just come here for a one-off match after losing a series in Fiji and were suffering from serious jet-lag after bad planning had let them down. Also, the players were very unhappy with then coach Marlene Wagner, and quotas marred the selection of the starting line-up in that Test.
This time, however, they have only lost one of their three group-stage matches — they beat Malaysia and Barbados — so they are definitely better prepared. Still, their chances are slim. What the Proteas could do, though, is lose by a smaller margin on Thursday and retain some respectability.
Apart from the silly errors that have crept into their game at this tournament, the biggest challenge will be dealing with the aerial game the Silver Ferns play. While the Proteas have to play an intense passing game before reaching the circle, the Silver Ferns sometimes get there in only two.
For South African coach Burta de Kock, the height factor is one of which she will be well aware.
”They are all very tall, so a high ball will always be turned over … we need to work on the shorter passes to keep them out and we’ve talked about that,” she said. ”It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it and we just need to stick to our game plan.” — Sapa