Johannesburg’s title defence got off to a rocky start at the SPAR National Netball Championships on Monday, as the three-time champions slipped to defeat in their opening clash against Cape Town at Dr EG Jansen High School in Boksburg, Ekhuruleni. After a fiercely contested encounter, the Western Cape outfit pulled away to win 56-53.
It was a match of shifting momentum, with Cape Town striking first and securing the lead at the end of every quarter and Johannesburg refusing to let them get away, trailing by just one goal at halftime. But Cape Town stamped their authority in the final period to seal the result.
Thrilled with the win was Cape Town wing/goal attack Nicholé Breedt, who is playing at the SPAR National Netball Championships for the first time since 2021, when she was part of the winning Cape Winelands side.
“I think we’ve put a little bit of a target on our backs. But that’s what you want when you’re a top team, you need to bring it to every single game,” she said. “So, the fact that we’ve just beaten the winners of last year just means we have to step up for every single game and we’re going to have to play hard from beginning to end of the tournament.”
Breedt added that when preparing to take on the defending champions, she had been impacted by recently watching the Springbok documentary, Chasing the Sun.
“I remember what Rassie [Erasmus] said – we’re going to look for weaknesses, but don’t forget we have strengths and they’re sitting and doing exactly the same… So instead of over-analysing how and what they’re going to do and what they did in the past, we focused on what we have and what we’ve learned, and how we could bring our strengths to the court and be on the attack with them defending. So, we wanted them to be more in the mindset of what they were going to do against us.”
Meanwhile, Johannesburg’s Kekeletso Molotsi put her side’s defeat down to opening day nerves.
“We are a fairly new team, especially at the back, coming in with youngsters who haven’t been exposed to this level of netball,” she said. “I felt it was a wake-up call for all of us – this is the pressure; this is what is expected from us. Not the best start… but we build from here.
“It was down to inconsistency. I believe when we were ahead, we were supposed to put our foot on the pedal and go, but because it’s first-game jitters, we were up and then down. But now the ice is broken, and I believe everyone will put in a better performance going forward.”
The Cape Town side maintained their winning start when they were back in action later in the day against the visiting Botswana national team, now coached by former SPAR Proteas captain Martha Mosoahle-Samm, who are participating in the tournament as preparation for the imminent Africa Netball Cup in Malawi.
They claimed a 55-39 victory, while Johannesburg’s match against Botswana was postponed after persistent rain and lightning brought an end to the day’s play.
Tshwane were the only other A section side to fit in two victories on the opening day after beating Nelson Mandela Bay 54-41 and Cape Winelands 53-35.
Meanwhile, last year’s runners-up Mangaung, coaches by SPAR Protea stalwart Karla Pretorius, enjoyed a solid start to their campaign with a 51-46 win over the Dr Kenneth Kaunda side from North West before their second match of the day against eThekwini was also postponed due to the weather.
In the Under-21 division, coach Bongi Msomi’s Johannesburg side enjoyed the perfect start to their title defence with an emphatic 69-17 victory over eThekwini, while 2023 champions Tshwane defeated home side Ekurhuleni 44-29.
Results
Senior A Section
Tshwane 54 – 41 Nelson Mandela Bay
Cape Winelands 37 – 44 eThekwini
Johannesburg 53 – 56 Cape Town
Mangaung 51 – 46 Dr Kenneth Kaunda
Cape Winelands 35 – 53 Tshwane
Cape Town 55 – 39 Botswana
eThekwini v Mangaung (postponed)
Johannesburg v Botswana (postponed)
Under 21
Johannesburg 69 – 17 eThekwini
Tshwane 44 – 29 Ekurhuleni
Dr Kenneth Kaunda 56 – 26 Cape Town