Commentator’s Corner with Jenny Woods
In the latest Commentator’s Corner, Jenny provides her view on NWC2015, including the nation that caught her attention…
The difference between a good and a great player often becomes clearer at a World Cup.
Before NWC2015 began, there were question marks over Casey Kopua and Maria Tutaia. Both answered those questions dramatically, particularly Tutaia. Others to shine were Kayla Cullen and Bailey Mes. Leana de Bruin barely put a foot wrong, and Laura Langman showed why she has played 127 Tests on the trot.
As one Australian commentator observed following that win over Australia in pool play … where were these players during the ANZ Championship? With the exceptions perhaps of de Bruin, Grace Rasmussen, and Jodi Brown, most of the New Zealanders had ordinary campaigns.
The difference is that everything changes at international level. Not just the players and coaches, but the environment around the team as well as, and the expectations.
During NWC2015 there was one team that I particularly enjoyed watching – Uganda. The red and yellow-dressed ‘She Cranes’ from Uganda typify what African netball has to offer – if we didn’t know that already thanks to the exploits of Malawi.
They were the talk of the competition for a number of reasons; they came in to Sydney with a tournament ranking of 16 and left in eighth place; that promotion most markedly at the expense of Fiji, which was disappointing.
For the first time, three African nations made the world’s top eight: South Africa 5, Malawi 6, and Uganda 8.
Watch this continent. There are millions of netballers in Africa.
Other countries like Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia are all strong but struggle to find the finance to get to qualifying tournaments to make it to the next level. This is one of world Netball’s many struggles.
Another part of the world with a similar problem is the Caribbean. Like Africa, these nations have talent to burn but not the money to go with it. So many of the Trinidad & Tobago players in particular lament the state of their game now, as opposed to the likes of 1979 when they shared the world title with New Zealand and Australia.
Netball’s greatest rivalry will return to New Zealand shores in October, just two months after they battled for gold at Netball World Cup SYDNEY 2015.
Tickets to the two Tests in New Zealand will go on sale to the public from 9am, Friday 4 September.
SilverFans have access to an exclusive pre-sale offer from 12pm, Monday 31 August. Haven’t joined the team? There’s still time – join now at www.SilverFans.co.nz