South Africa’s Proteas have gone down in their opening two matches of their 2017 Fast5 World Series campaign at the Hisense Arena in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday.
The South Africans went down 37-29 to the Sunshine Girls of Jamaica and later lost to New Zealand.
Jamaica made the perfect start to their campaign, executing well during their power play to defeat South Africa.
The Jamaicans used an 18-5 final quarter to come from behind and secure the victory.
The two sides were evenly matched early on, with Jamaica going into the first break just one point ahead.
The second quarter was once again an arm wrestle with neither side able to gain a clear advantage, scoring five points each.
South Africa were unable to use their power-play to its full potential, but a late six-pointer to Renske Stoltz put them five points ahead at the final change of ends.
The Proteas then moved Daencke Rohde into goal keeper in the last quarter to try and quell the influence of Jhaniele Fowler-Reid however it wasn’t enough to stop the Jamaicans as they stormed to victory.
The Jamaicans will face host nation Australia next up and will take a lot of confidence out of their first up win as they look to improve on their fifth place finish at the 2016 tournament.
Said SA’s Maryka Holtzhausen after the game: ‘I think it was a bit of a shaky start, but I think if we can just improve from it and tighten up on a few things hopefully we’ll be on the right end of the score.
‘I don’t think we did very well in our power play, we needed to be further ahead, and then we just needed to put up those shots in our power play as well. I think they played their power play very well so we need to do that as well.
‘I think we just need to tighten up on our defence and keep our attack nice, short and sharp, and then put those balls into the net.’
But that didn’t prove to be enough as the South Africans lost their next match as well, going down 40-26 to New Zealand.
Both teams had a point to prove on the back of both teams losing their opening game of the series, but New Zealand seemed to find their rhythm on the back of some impressive long range shooting and astute defending.
South Africa were right in the game until half time, but their failure to capitalise on their power play would eventually be their downfall against the reigning Fast5 champions, going down 40-26.
‘It’s our power play. We’re not capitalising on our power play. Every time we just seem to be just behind or two ahead in our power play and other teams like New Zealand do extremely well in their power play. I think we got two threes and then they just kept alive from their twos, so it’s our power play that is our downfall, mainly,’ says South Africa’s Jessica Khomo.
The first quarter began with some nerves, leading to a number of turnovers with both defences holding strong for the first two minutes until Ameliaranne Ekenasio picked up where she left off in New Zealand’s first game, scoring seven points, including multiple two-point goals to give the Kiwis a 10-7 advantage at the first break.
South Africa used their power play in the second quarter, but it was the defence of New Zealand that did the most damage. Despite having their power play active, South Africa and New Zealand both scored eight points in the quarter. New Zealand took an an 18-15 advantage with a power play to come.
Ekenasio opened the third quarter with a six-point shot and never looked back, helping New Zealand score 18 points for the power play. South Africa were again held to just seven points, with New Zealand forcing turnovers and rebounding strongly from South Africa’s misses.
New Zealand took a commanding 14 point lead into the final quarter.
South Africa battled hard against New Zealand’s seemingly impenetrable defence but 2/9 shooting from the South Africans was not enough to close the gap on New Zealand, going down 40-26.
Picture of the Proteas’ Fikile Mkhuzangwe looking to make a pass against New Zealand courtesy of Robert Prezioso/Getty Images for Netball Australia