Proteas optimistic about World Cup chances

Wales lost for the first time at the Netball World Cup as South Africa proved too strong in a 40-68 victory.

The She Cranes had already done enough to make the quarterfinal stage. At the end of the first quarter, the Proteas were 15-10 ahead.

Wales were in front until the third quarter, when Uganda took a 39-35 lead. The results on those occasions were – Australia 63-36; England 65-25 Wales; South Africa 61-41 Wales.

“I wanted to play them all, and to try out various combinations in a match like this, before we get to the business end of the competition”, she said. “The team dug deep tonight to come from a seven goal deficit to win a closely contested second half”, said Welsh Netball’s head of elite performance Trish Wilcox.

Proteas captain Maryke Holtzhausen said the team was excited about starting their World Cup campaign.

“They have made peace with some of the players who withdrew from the team, and it will be a tougher team to beat”.

Wing attack Bongi Msomi said the match had been a confidence booster.

Wales, ranked at number eight in the world, were able to produce an excellent display of shooting in the final quarter to retake their lead and see out their third straight win at the tournament following victories over Fiji and Zambia.

“I think they were confident, but we put the tactics we’ve worked on into practice. We are now looking forward to the preliminaries and the opportunity to play the top netball nations and the challenges that will provide”.

Drane’s side face South Africa tomorrow (Tuesday) at the Allphones Arena, England, who are coached by University of Chester alumni Tracey Neville, on Wednesday before rounding off proceedings against the hosts Australia, hotly-tipped for the title, on Friday.