The final day of matches for the international netball Quad Series begins today and there is everything to play for. Four nations contest the series – Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa – and with four out of six matches having already been played, England and New Zealand have logged one win and one loss each.
Australia are the current reigning champions, unbeaten so far, and they seem likely to win overall. They are the highest-ranked side in the world and have a strong margin between goals scored and goals conceded, which decides the final rankings. However, if they lose today’s match against New Zealand’s Silver Ferns, their place at the top of the Quad Series could well be in jeopardy.
The England Roses, who showed exceptional calibre in a highly charged opening match against the Silver Ferns last weekend, winning 64-57 in extra time, will be at least vying for their first runners-up spot since the tournament began. They have finished third in each of the series they have contested since 2016. This year they have a stronger goal margin than the Kiwis, which could be the deciding factor for second place.
Today’s hosts, South Africa’s Proteas, have finished last in each series so far and lost both their matches against New Zealand and Australia. However, when they play the Roses today in Johannesburg, the visiting manager Tracey Neville will not be underestimating them.
“The game is going to be a tough one,” she said. “South Africa at the moment are putting out some of the best netball that I’ve ever seen, so obviously we’ll be respecting our opposition and putting in a lot of homework.”
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For Neville, there’s a high risk of déjà vu: England lost to South Africa 51-54 in their final match of the last Quad Series, also after beating New Zealand and losing to Australia. “Last time, one of the things we really underestimated was how clinical South Africa are with their possession,” she said. “They’re very accurate so the actual possession for England has to be very high. Against Australia we made silly errors, basic errors that we won’t get away with against South Africa.”
The Roses will be particularly concerned about the Proteas’ star wing attack, Bongiwe Msomi, who won player of the match last weekend against Australia for her expert feeding to the goal attack and goal shooter. Msomi, who was born in Durban and speaks four languages, played in the UK Superleague from 2016-17, helping Wasps to win the title in their debut season.
“Msomi is actually one of the highest feeders and [she and] their shooter, Lenize Potgieter, are the players that we really just need to shut out in this game,” said Neville. “We came into the series wanting to win it and there are still other results that could determine that. We’ve just got to go out and finish our performances off.”
