/ 16 November 2007

Not quite getting the ball into the net

South Africa’s hopes of taking a step up in the netball world came to an abrupt end when they succumbed 82-23 to defending champions New Zealand in Thursday night’s quarterfinal of the World Netball Championships in Auckland.

With Australia and New Zealand, and, to a slightly lesser extent, England and Jamaica, so far ahead of the rest of the world, taking that step into the top four was always going to be a formidable challenge. And given the lack of decent international matches it was never going to happen for the South Africans.

They went into the quarterfinal clash with some hefty baggage, considering that the last time they took on the world champions, they lost by a whopping 69 goals. Thankfully, it wasn’t quite as humiliating a defeat last night, but it was certainly close. They were simply outclassed by a team who have come in for some criticism from the local media recently and so had a point to prove.

Despite the loss, the South Africans can at least be comforted by the fact that they will receive a R250 000 cheque from team sponsor Spar for reaching the quarterfinal stage.

Having known how this tournament was structured, they wouldn’t have expected to cash in on the R500 000 that was on offer for taking the next step or the million that lay beyond that.

This loss means the South African team will now enter the playoffs for fifth to eighth place. It’s likely to be a tough fight. They will take on Samoa on Friday, and only if they win that match will they play off for fifth and sixth. If they lose, which, given the form the Samoans have shown of late, is not impossible, they will take on the loser of Friday’s Malawi vs Cook Islands match.