Silver Ferns storm past error ridden England to reach Final
This was the moment that our squad had trained four years for, this was the best chance in recent memory for England to reach a World Championships Final, this was it. Unfortunately, the last obstacle to overcome happened to be in the form of the reigning Commonwealth Games Champions and world number 1, New Zealand. As the score line suggests, 49 – 34, England were outplayed.
This was always going to be the fiercest challenge to date, but having seen performances improve on a day to day basis, England were confident of causing an upset and booking a place in the final. In the end, needless penalties and poor use of possession was countered by impressive marking and clinical shooting. The strength in previous games has been that Sue Hawkins’ side have really pushed from the first whistle, and in their previous four games they had really dominated the opening exchanges. This game was different. The very first centre pass was turned over in a matter of seconds and Kiwi GA Maria Tutaia was on hand to make the first score of the game. Four more followed from New Zealand as after five minutes they led 5 – 1.
The mid-court trio of Jade Clarke, Karen Atkinson and Tamsin Greenway were struggling to impose themselves on the game, although when they did the attacking duo of Pamela Cookey and Joanne Harten were on fire. In the first quarter, that combination made 11 shots from 11 efforts. It wasn’t the accuracy that was the problem but the number of chances being created. It was an obvious step up in class from the earlier rounds and the likes of Anna Scarlett and Casey Williams were proving to be formidable opposition. In defence Geva Mentor and Sonia Mkoloma were coping valiantly to restrict a scrappy first quarter to 13 – 11 in favour of the Silver Ferns.
The pattern continued in the second quarter with England struggling in the transition phase and trying to force feeds into the circle which were being easily intercepted. Although, the Kiwis were having just as many problems, with Clarke and Mkoloma battling away for tips and deflections. Pressure and nerves were in no doubt playing their part as both sides conceded possession with increasing frequency in a half which definitely saw defence on top of attack. Hawkins used a New Zealand injury time-out as the chance to bring on fresh legs and introduced Eboni Beckford-Chambers for Mkoloma and Louisa Brownfield for Harten.
The move backfired. Brownfield was restricted to just two attempts on goal in the second quarter and missed both. In a game as big as this, the small things make all the difference and there was a feeling that those chances would be seen as missed opportunities. In a measure of how keenly contested the quarter was; England only posted seven scores, New Zealand ten. At half-time England were trailing 18 – 23.
A gap of five at half-time is miniscule in netball and having seen some flashes of brilliance, especially in defence, there was still the feeling that England could pull themselves back into the contest. Serena Guthrie was introduced at WD, Jade Clarke moved into C. The opening exchanges looked promising with turnover ball occurring and England having chances to reduce the deficit. Once again these chances were spurned, either from misplaced passing or missed shots. The team were starting to get frustrated as they fell behind and were now being regularly called for contact, stepping and offside. As the frustration grew, so did the gap. Stacey Francis was pulled into GD for Beckford-Chambers but it was the inevitable deep end in which she was thrust. As the whistle sounded to signal the end of the third quarter, England were down 26 – 39.
At the start of the fourth quarter Hawkins again turned to her bench for inspiration and replaced Francis with Mkoloma and Greenway with Atkinson. This would have been a mammoth fight back but to be honest it never looked like happening. There was no lack of effort from the team, Guthrie, Clarke and Atkinson were running themselves into the ground and the shooters were working hard to find space that, in truth, most of the time just wasn’t there; a testament to Leana de Bruin and Williams in the Kiwi defence. Combinations were not coming off, flowing passing moves were easily broken down and needless penalties were conceded. It was the worst possible time to have an off day.
In the final fifteen minutes the umpires did their best to annoy the Silver Fern followers as they called penalties on the New Zealand attack but it did little to aid England. Turnovers were simply countered with interceptions and for the fourth quarter in a row they outscored their opposition, this time 10 – 8 to give the final score its sheen. Having broken the 20 goal barrier within the first quarter on the previous four outings, England only managed to make double figures in one out of four quarters today. After the game Hawkins, Cookey and Mkoloma pointed to the error count and New Zealand pressure as key reasons behind the loss and that is exactly what was witnessed.
If England had made these errors against lesser nations they could have still gone on to win the match, against the best team in the world, you are not afforded that luxury. The team played with heart, passion and soul but were bettered by skill, movement and pressure from the Silver Ferns. The look on the faces of the bench and the seven left standing on court summed up the feelings of the England fans, dejection. At the end of the game the England team were joined in a huddle by their conquerors as a sea of black and silver erupted in the stands, it must have been a hard moment to stomach for those involved. However, this competition has shown vast improvement and that should not be forgotten.
This is the first occasion in a long time that England entered a game of this magnitude with the belief and expectation that the win would be achieved. Throughout the week, Aussie and Kiwi fans have labelled England as the team to beat. The Southern Hemisphere are starting to take notice of England and as we continue to improve, that World Championships Final lies just around the corner. That occasion will have to wait for the Sydney Championships in 2015, but for now there is a bronze medal and pride at stake. England awaits the losing side from the Australia v Jamaica showdown and will be determined to finish their campaign with their heads held high.
You can follow the 3rd/4th place play-off with England from 7:30am tomorrow morning by following updates from England Netball on twitter and facebook, it will be broadcast on Monday July 11th on Sky Sports 4 @ 5pm
Shooting Stats:
Pamela Cookey: 13/15 – 87%
Joanne Harten: 13/14 - 93%
Louisa Brownfield: 8/14 - 57%
Team: 34/43 – 79%
All images courtesy of ©Michael Bradley/WNC 2011
on the WNC Facebook site.
Content: Alex Sexton, England Netball