World Youth Netball Championships Quarter Final

England 44 vs. 24 South Africa

So the real business has started, and the stadium and the surrounds felt different today. The crowd was larger, more vociferous, with more flags, and definitely more partisan, creating the kind of atmosphere that these championships deserve. At the end of a day when every team has played, with every match meaningful for both teams and with final ranking positions down to 20^th place depending on the result, the pre-tournament seedings have been confirmed.

World Youth Netball Championships Quarter Final

We have a semi-final line up of New Zealand, England, Australia, and Jamaica, that is the order in which the teams were seeded after the last World Youth Championships in Florida in 2005. We will look ahead to tomorrow’s semi-finals shortly, but first, what about the crunch and pressured quarter final against old foes South Africa.

Jess Garland (England Co-Coach) had marked South Africa out as possibly the best team outside the established top 4 at this event, so it was never going to be an easy game, in fact England wanted a hard test, the step up from the pool phase was needed to prepare for what was a hoped for semi final encounter. England started with a line up of: Rosie Allison (GS), Jo Harten (GA), Sarah Jane O Sullivan (WA), Serena Guthrie (C), Stacey Francis (WD), Sam Perry (GD), and captain Eboni Beckford Chambers (GK). That line up, which was unchanged until half time, had to endure the pressure of the occasion, the intensity of the challenge thrown their way by South Africa, and they did not find it easy.

The pressure showed with passes going astray, shots missed, and a generally scrappy first quarter, defences were on top by a large margin, and both sides struggled to create any flow or momentum. It must be remembered that for both teams, and all of these players, regardless of their Co-operative Superleague experience, this is up a significant level, and it takes time to adjust. At quarter time, England had squeezed out a marginal lead 6 goals to 4 that tells you everything.

The fight and battle continued in the second quarter, but England was slowly finding their feet, perhaps beginning to feel more comfortable in the loud and raucous environment. They also adjusted, to a degree, to the umpiring approach, which hadn’t helped the flow of the game in the first quarter, and by half time had calmed a few nerves in the stand with a 19 to 10 lead.

The England Management team made changes at half time, changes that would be the only ones in the game. This marks a change for the approach until now in this tournament, but then this is the business end of the event. Harten moved to GS, and was joined at GA by Ella Clark. Katy Rose joined at WA, with O Sullivan moving back to C. Guthrie and Francis also moved back to WD and GD respectively, leaving Beckford Chambers to lead from the back at GK, and lead she did. Leading by example, exactly the way you want from your captain when the going gets tough, she took ball after ball, was dominant in defence, and played a leading role in getting England moving forward, where she found allies in the ever hard working mid court combinations.

32 to 15 at three quarter time, turned into 44 to 24 by full time, with the stadium announcer confirming England’s place in the semi-final before the game had finished! He was right though, despite their intense effort, their all court defence, and wonderful competitive spirit, South Africa was beaten by then, but they made this England team work for the honours.

Reflecting afterwards, Co-Coach Anna Mayes said: “It was obvious from the start that we have arrived at the real part of the event, the unforced errors showed what the pressure does to you. We must remember this is a new level for these players, but today was the adjustment; they feel at home out there now! It was a very physical game, just as we had expected, and our approach to pressurising the Centre and Goal Attack as their play makers, paid off in the later stages. Our substitutions again had a major impact on the match, and it was fantastic to see the composure of Ella Clark and Katy Rose after being pitched in at half time. Eboni though was particularly dominant today, and showed her agility and pace over and over. She lead by example!”

So whilst it might not have been pretty throughout the whole match (especially the first 20 minutes), England drew on their determination and match winning ability and desire to earn a semi final against Australia tomorrow evening. Now that is a story worth pointing out, that means its England (seeded 2) against Australia (seeded 3) in the semi final. That is a change from all previous Netball World Championships (after the silver medal in Florida, England had expected to play Jamaica in a semi-final this time around).

However, just to add spice to tomorrow’s game; Australia asked the International Board if it could be changed, to 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3. The change was made, and there would be a certain irony if that resulted in Australia playing New Zealand in a Bronze Medal match!!! The England team is committed to playing their part in making that happen.

When asked about the semi final against Australia, Anna Mayes was not concerned: “We have nothing to fear based on what we have seen of Australia so far. They are a good team, but so are we. We need to maintain our composure and discipline to stick to our game plan…”

If the atmosphere was pressured today, we expect greater tomorrow, so sit back in England, you may just hear the clash in the middle of your Tuesday night as The Ashes summer visits the wonderful Island of Rarotonga.

England Shooting percentages:

Rosie Allison: 10/13 77%

Jo Harten: 25/37 68%

Ella Clark: 9/13 69%

Team overall: 70%

World Youth Netball Championships – Quarter Finals

Australia 86 Cook Islands 17

Jamaica 78 Northern Ireland 39

New Zealand 63 Malawi 38

England 44 South Africa 24

Semi Final Draw:

England v Australia