Some random information on the teams, players and coaches involved in the Varsity Netball final on Monday, October 19.
- Maties have produced the FNB Player of the Match in six of their eight fixtures.
- Nelandré Mostert (goal shooter of Maties) along with Sigrid Burger (goal shooter of NWU-Pukke), have both received the FNB Player of the Match award twice.
- Pukke has had a nominee for FNB Player of the Series each year. Elsunet du Plessis (2013), Lentsa Motau (2014) and Zandré Kruger (2015).
- Kifiloe Tsotetsi, goal shooter and goal keeper of the Pukke is the only Protea player in either team. She played for South Africa against Scotland last year.
- Zandré Kruger and Juline Rossouw have both played for the South African Under-21 side in 2013.
- Charmaine Baard, Jo Prins and Sasha-Lee Petersen of Maties were members of the SA U-19 team that participated at the Africa Union Sport Council Region 5 Games in Zimbabwe in December 2014.
- Maties head coach Christine Behan and team manager Karen Swart are both former Maties players.
- Christine Behan is the daughter of former Springbok coach, André Markgraaff.
- Melandi Pretorius (Maties) is a former pupil of Stellenberg High that was the second-best ranked U-18 netball team in the country in 2015. Team mate Somari Els is an old Waterkloof scholar. Waterkloof beat Stellenberg in the final of this year’s school challenge in Boksburg.
- Anche Engelbrecht (Pukke), Suné Claassens, Haike Brink and Juline Rossouw (all Maties) will be the three oldest players on court, at the age of 23.
- Three things you didn’t know about Suné Claassens (centre and joint captain of Maties) is that she was born in Namibia and grew up in Clanwilliam, has a huge fear of frogs and shares a birthday with a former defender of Australia, Bianca Chatfield – who recently retired.
- Sigi Burger (Pukke) is the tallest player in the series at 1.94 m and is the niece of Springbok Schalk Burger.
- Juline Rossouw’s older brother, Jéan, has played senior provincial rugby.
- Maties’ best previous performance was in 2014 when they ended fourth and their biggest win was an 83-19 victory over VUT earlier in the 2015 competition.
- Pukke’s best performance came in 2013 when they finished runners-up and their largest winning margin was against TUT in 2013, when they won 88-16.
By Ruan Bruwer, Volksblad
