By Eugene Majuru.
The Nations Netball cup press Conference was held on Saturday at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham.
Four teams England, New Zealand, South Africa and Jamaica will battle it out to walk away with the prestigious Nations Cup trophy.
Netball Nations Cup Press conference
Hosts England’s Vitality Roses have the advantage of the support of the big crowds in the Arenas but other three teams are power houses who will fight till the last minute.
Team coaches and Captains attended the press conference with Noeline Taurua New Zealand coach saying ” It’s business as normal at the Nations cup, a great opportunity to see and know where we are. We are at the beginning of a 4 year cycle and are excited and looking forward to our first game on Sunday and looking forward to the challenge”.
South Africa’s Spa Proteas coach Dorette Bordenhorst and Captain Bongi Msomi
On the issue of pressure as winners of the last Worldcup Taurua said: “We are very humbled and expectation has risen within our team and country. It’s a good thing with regards to rising of netball I think, not only for us but everybody else. We havent got some of our old players on the line up, we have fresh blood just like other teams. We are ready to just go out there and play” added Taurua.
South Africa’s coach Dorette Badenhorst was appointed coach sometime after the 2019 Worldcup. So far she led the 3 match test series with England in South Africa in November last year. England won the first 2 games and lost to South Aftica in the third test.
Badenhorst began her coaching career from the age of 28 and is already proving she is the best person for the job.
England Captain Natalie Haythornthwaite who plays Wing Attack (WA) and Goal Attack (GA) will be captaining the England side for the first time in this serious competition and said: ” I am really well supported by coach Jess and my vice captain. Some of our experienced team members are resting and recovering from injury. “This gives a good opportunity to our younger players to play on home soil against World champions.
Vitality roses England netball coach Jess Thirlby with Captain Natalie Haythornthwaite
On the issue of South Africa getting support from all African nations as they are the only African country South Africa Captain Bongi Bongi Msomi said” We as South Africa are proud of who we are and we are very united. We always enjoy each others company and space. The bigger challenge is to be bigger and maintain where we were last year. We have new coaching staff it’s been fantastic. Our new coach Dorette is a brilliant coach”. We hope we can cause an upset in this tournament” added Msomi.
Jamaica’s coach Connie Francis said: ” Getting here was cold for us it’s been cold and raining and took us a bit of time to acclimatise to the weather, we are now settled and excited. The Nations cup brings us an opportunity we cherish and we have had good preparation which saw us bring in 5 new good players and we have a great team”
Coach Francis was appointed Head Coach in October 2019 so she is still new in this role and has spent much time with the team and managed to select the best 12 for this tournament from the many talented Jamaican players. She is also a former netball player who played for Jamaica in 5 World Cup competitions so she brings a vast amount of experience and skill to the Jamaican side.
Jamaican Captain who is confident of good results said: “We have put great effort in practising at home and we will ensure we do our very best when we go out on the netball courts in this tournament”.
Nations Netball Cup kicks off on Sunday Jan 19 at Motorpint Arena, Wednesday Jan 22 at Arena Birmingham and Saturday Jan 25 and Sunday Jan 26 at Copper Bolt Arena in London.
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