NMMU’s narrow defeat to UP-Tuks has strengthened their resolve to show what they are capable of in the rest of the Varsity Netball competition.
The Eastern Cape outfit suffered their first defeat of the tournament when they went down 45-44 to Tuks in Port Elizabeth on Monday, and their captain Dumisani Chauke believes the result would have been different if they had just one more minute to play.
“The game could have gone either way, had there been an extra minute in last night’s game, the result would have been different. We wanted it, and we fought till the end,” she said.
Although Tuks beat them convincingly at the USSA championships, this is a different NMMU side and Chauke said that her team’s mentality has changed completely after all the work they have put in preparing for Varsity Netball.
“The game was a tough one, more psychologically than physically, Tuks came out thinking it was going to be an easy game, and we came out with the results of our match against them at USSA where they beat us by far on the first day, but with the hard work that we have been putting in, we believed that we could have taken it,” she said.
Chauke added that although they missed out on making it four consecutive wins at home, her side is determined to bounce back and reward their loyal fans.
“My team NMMU Madibaz played like the champions we did not lose, we learnt and our supporters were with us all the way,” she said.
The Madibaz face a tough assignment in their next game, with a trip to Potchefstroom to face the unbeaten NWU-Pukke in their first away game next Monday.
By Shalom Khandanisa
