Potchefstroom — It was a case of revenge being a dish best served cold when Nelson Mandela Bay beat Cape Winelands 30-28 the opening match of the SPAR Netball South Africa (NSA) National Championships in Potchefstroom on Monday morning.
Back in December in Cape Town, the Winelands made great use of ‘home ground advantage’ to win the national title courtesy of a 66-54 victory over the side from the eastern Cape.
But on Monday, Nelson Mandela Bay exacted sweet revenge with a hard-fought victory that served to illustrate just how tight the competition is going to be in this week-long tournament contested by close on 100 teams.
The Cape Winelands’ success last year was put down to the absence of the big guns from the competition. But they are all back and perennial champions Tshwane, who had to pull out of the 2021 edition due to most of their players testing positive for Covid-19, marked their return with a 36-32 victory over hosts Dr Kenneth Kaunda.
They had looked to be cruising as they dominated the initial three quarters only for the home team to reel them in via a good showing in the last quarter.
Tshwane captain Lungile Mthembu could not hide her delight at their success but more at their return to the competition.
“We are happy to be back as a team. It’s great to be together and have this kind of a good start to the tournament. We had a good start although we got a little tired at the end although I think some complacency crept in as well in the final quarter. But it is good that we spotted our failures this early so that we can go and fix things for the rest of the week,” she said.
Like most of the teams, Tshwane are a good mix of experience and youth and Mthembu says this is for the better.
“It’s good to have the younger players who are willing to learn from the seniors and we are enjoying teaching them. But we also learn from their enthusiasm and at the end we all grow together, and it is great for the sport of netball.”
Tshwane were due to play their second match of the day against Cape Winelands late in the afternoon.
Johannesburg meanwhile had a perfect opening day by beating both Buffalo City and Mangaung 49-22 and 36-23 respectively.
But their star player Boitumelo Mahloko said they were not about to get carried away and were just going to take things step-by-step. They have a big match on Tuesday morning against Tshwane A who are here to reclaim their title.
Buffalo City enjoyed a great victory in their second match when they won the Eastern Cape derby against Nelson Mandela Bay 27-25 courtesy of a brilliant defensive game plan that saw them shut out their opposition's goal-shooter.
IOL Sport