North West aim to defend their national netball crown

The Spar national netball championships will once again shine the spotlight on South Africa’s finest netball players as they aim for national success in one of the country’s toughest and fiercest competitions. This year the championship takes place at the Hoy Park Sports Centre in Durban from 7-13 August.

North West is the current champion, having won the title last year under the mentorship of NWU Pukke’s Dorette Badenhorst. This year, Julene Meyer takes over the reins as  coach and confidence is high that she can also steer North West to another victory. The champions started off  like a house on fire on Monday, beating Gauteng 2, 51-17 in very windy conditions on the open courts.

The following day, North West also got the better of KwaZulu-Natal A with a 50-34 victory. They also proceeded to thrash KwaZulu-Natal B 69-15 to end off a successful first two days of the tournament.

At this moment, Free State and Western Cape look like North West’s main challengers for the title, with Gauteng making an indifferent start this year.

Free State incidentally also beat North West 39-29 to hand them their first defeat of the tournament.

The match of the tournament thus far has been between Free State and Gauteng as the former completed a close 49-47 victory. The margins for error are thin and can decide a match and championship – the winner will surely be the team that can hold their nerve and beat the high-flying North West. The final will be televised on Supersport 210 from 09:30 on Saturday 13 August.