SA netball to 'test ourselves' ahead of World Cup
- Published
South Africa narrowly lost to Australia in the semi-finals of the 2019 Netball World Cup
With less than 200 days to go before they host the 2023 World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa's netball team will be out to make a statement when they face the world's top three netball nations in the annual Quad Series.
The Proteas open the series at Cape Town's International Convention Centre against world champions New Zealand on Saturday, 21 January.
But the team that ran Australia so close at the 2019 World Cup - only losing by two goals in a thrilling semi-final - have experienced a dip in performances since then, and they only managed a sixth-place finish at last year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
This led to Netball South Africa to turn again to Australian Norma Plummer, who coached the team between 2015 and 2019, to revitalise the team.
In her first series in charge since her return, Plummer - a World Championship winner as a player in 1975 and World Cup winner as coach of Australia in 2007 - guided the Proteas to victories over Scotland and Zimbabwe in November's Diamond Challenge.
'Changing the vibe'
Norma Plummer has been tasked with making South Africa competitive again in her second spell in charge
Plummer is cautiously optimistic about her team's chances, making the case that in netball, "anything can happen."
"The other teams have had their ups and downs, so we will just go out and play our game and we'll read it as it comes," she told BBC Sport Africa.
"Having been around the game for so long, I know the opposition's strengths and weaknesses. So we'll be working on that."
With the World Cup being the big picture, Proteas captain Bongi Msomi is looking forward to the opportunity to gauge where her team is in relation to the world's top three.
"It will be really great for us to get out on Saturday and kick-start the series to test ourselves and to see where we sit with a view to the World Cup coming up," she said.
"I'm very excited - to be honest the excitement comes from the preparations we've done. For us it is to work on ourselves, to put out the netball that we want to take forward and be able to compete against the world's best.
"It's been great to see that everyone did what was required of them in their own time over the festive season and then coming back we worked on the technical stuff."
South Africa disappointed at the Commonwealth Games in 2022
The squad spent the past week in camp at the renowned Stellenbosch Academy of Sport which is where South Africa's men's rugby sevens team, the Blitzboks - four-time World Series winners and Commonwealth Games champions - are based.
Msomi, who has worked under Plummer since the 78-year-old Australian started her first stint, says the return of the coach has already paid big dividends.
"Norma is just fantastic," she said.
"I was lucky to be part of the squad when she came in 2015 to coach us for the 2019 World Cup. She changed the whole vibe in the team, she changed our standards of working, was able to bring out some new talent and coach them to a new standard.
"To see that was fantastic and to hear that she was coming back was, for me, one of the biggest highlights from last year.
"She has a way of getting the best out of us. You can see everyone is really pumped and they're taking in whatever she's giving us."
The Proteas squad has been boosted by the return of defensive superstar Karla Pretorius who was out of the game for 15 months following the birth of her first child in June.
Star goal-shooter Lenize Potgieter, who missed the Commonwealth Games through injury, will also strengthen the side considerably - although they will have to cope with the absence of key players Nicola Smith and Elmere van der Berg, who have been ruled out of the series due to injury.
Despite the obvious disappointment of not having Smith and Van der Berg in her ranks, Plummer is content to look on the brighter side of things.
"I would have loved to have both of them present because they are really talented players.
"They've got all the ability to be world beaters, but it gives other players an opportunity and we haven't been disappointed by the players available for selection."
Quad Series fixtures
Saturday, 21 January 2023:
South Africa vs New Zealand (14h00)
Australia vs England (16H00)
Sunday, 22 January 2023:
South Africa vs England (14h00)
Australia vs New Zealand (16h00)
Tuesday, 24 January 2023:
England vs New Zealand (14h00)
South Africa vs Australia 1(6h00)
Wednesday, 25 January 2023:
Bronze medal playoff (14h00)
Final (16h00)
*All Times GMT.