Johannesburg’s title defence took another knock-on day two of the SPAR National Netball Championships in Boksburg as the three-time defending champions were held to a draw by Mangaung, a setback that followed their opening-day defeat to Cape Town, who remain unbeaten in the tournament so far.
Coach Elsjé Jordaan’s side suffered a sluggish start in a rematch of last year’s final, which Johannesburg edged by a single goal. They found themselves 8-0 down before registering their first goal. But determined not to let the match get away from them, the Joburg side clawed back and finally found their rhythm by the third quarter, which they managed to dominate, scoring 15 goals to Mangaung’s nine to head into the final period one goal up.
Johannesburg were three goals ahead at one stage, but five unanswered goals from Mangaung to edge back into the lead made for a tense finish, with the teams eventually settling for a 44-44 draw.
Mangaung are currently coached by renowned SPAR Proteas defender Karla Pretorius, who explained afterwards: “We were very happy with our start, but somewhere we just hit a bit of a dip. But I think we responded well and got out of it.
“We’ll take the draw today. I think it could have gone the other way, but we’ll take that… There was a good half, the first half. The second half, we weren’t as clinical, so we need to just bring all of that together to make sure we put a 60-minute, consistent, accurate performance out there.”
Johannesburg captain Tinita van Dyk remained upbeat after the match. “We had a bit of a shaky start, but I’m so proud of the way the girls fought and we came back in this game.”
As for settling for the draw, Van Dyk added: “You’re working for the win. But I think what we can take home from this game is we were better than yesterday, and we take everything with us, build on it, and for the next game we will be even better and stronger.”
That they were, as later in the day, Johannesburg finally managed to record their first win of the tournament by defeating Nelson Mandela Bay 53-37. Mangaung were back in action against the visiting Botswana side, whom they beat 57-54.
Meanwhile, the only side to have won all their matches so far is Cape Town. After their impressive opening day victory over Johannesburg, the Cape side claimed a 67-37 win over neighbours Cape Winelands before beating the team from North West, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, 62-51. The unheralded eThekwini had a chance to go level with Cape Town on points after pulling off a gutsy 41-37 victory over Tshwane on Tuesday morning, but they lost out 32-58 to the Dr Kenneth Kaunda team in the afternoon.
That was a maiden victory for the team from the North West at this tournament – the first of what captain Martiné Jordaan is hoping are many more to come.
“It’s great just having a win in the bag and something to capitalise on and something for us to work on going forward,” she said.
“We’ve finished third for a few years in a row now so we’re really wanting to go to the final, and I think this is a good start for us, just knowing we’ve had some close games. We can really go for it and just play without any fear.”
Despite the loss, eThekwini coach Nana Khomo, who switched from a player to the coaching role this year, expressed pride in her team for their two wins out of three matches so far.
“I’m really proud of my side… We did know that this was going to be a tough competition. I said to the girls if you can just go on court and give your best, I’m happy with that. And that’s what they gave me in the first two games. But I do think that the fatigue is starting to come in,” said Khomo.
In the under-21 A section, the big match-up of the day saw 2024 champions Johannesburg taking on 2023 winners Tshwane, with the defending champions prevailing 55-35.
Results
Senior A section
Cape Town 67 – 37 Cape Winelands
Tshwane 37 – 41 eThekwini
Johannesburg 44 – 44 Mangaung
Cape Winelands 47 – 46 Nelson Mandela Bay
Dr Kenneth Kaunda 51 – 62 Cape Town
Tshwane 35 – 42 Botswana
Nelson Mandela Bay 37 – 53 Johannesburg
Mangaung 57 – 54 Botswana
eThekwini 32 – 58 Dr Kenneth Kaunda
Under-21 A section
Cape Town 48 – 30 eThekwini
Dr Kenneth Kaunda 52 – 29 Ekurhuleni
Johannesburg 55 – 35 Tshwane
Picture Credit: Reg Caldecott
