Jaguars maul Sunbirds

The Gauteng Jaguars thrashed the Mpumalanga Sunbirds by 61 goals to 31 in their Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League match at the Ellis Park Indoor Arena over the long weekend.

Despite the huge winning margin, the Jaguars fought hard with the team’s defensive pair, comprising player of the match Shadine van der Merwe and Jeanie Steyn, doing a superb job of keeping the ball out of the opponent’s circle.

Both coaches made changes at half-time. Jenna-Lee Delport, the coach of the Sunbirds, changed the entire team and brought in her full bench, and made some positional changes.

Jenny van Dyk, the coach of the Jaguars, took both her defenders off, but this tactic worked negatively for Van Dyk as the Sunbirds had their best quarter scoring 10 goals.

Delport was delighted with her team’s performance, except for the second quarter. “We reached all our targets and I am thrilled with the way the youngsters played,” she said.

Van Dyk was also pleased with the way her young players responded. “I wanted to put them under pressure and they responded well. Although we didn’t meet all our goals, all the youngsters had half a game. It is important to expose them at this stage.”

Earlier in the league, the Eastern Cape Aloes notched up their second win of the tournament with a comprehensive 63–34 victory over the Northern Cape Diamonds. The Aloes dominated the match throughout and were 30–15 ahead at half-time.

Aloes coach Desiree Neville, who took over the position two weeks ago after the resignation of her predecessor, said she was both pleased and relieved to receive the win. “We had a training day last week where I was able to explain my philosophy of coaching. I want them to take more responsibility on-court, and they seem to be responding well to that,” she said.

Diamonds’ coach, Elsje van der Merwe, said she was impressed with the way the Aloes had grown since Neville took over. “I watched them against the Fireballs before this game, and I knew we were going to have a very tough match.”