The defending champions NWU-Pukke will face the unbeaten UP-Tuks on Monday in Pretoria to fight on centre court for the Varsity Netball trophy of 2016.
In the earlier rounds of the tournament the Potchefstroom side suffered a defeat of 52-48 against UP-Tuks in Stellenbosch.
Dorette Badenhorst, head coach of the NWU-Pukke is confident about her team and during training also reflected on the UP-Tuks game as well as the semi-finals to improve on.
“I’m confident that my team will do well. This is a new game and the team that will use their opportunities will be the winning team,” said Badenhorst.
“We focused on the areas that went wrong in our match against Tuks as well and the areas in which we want to improve on from our semi-final match against Maties,” Badenhorst added.
Going into the finals for a second consecutive time, Badenhorst said that there is no pressure on the champions of 2015.
“Tuks is obviously the favourite with the amount of experience, Fast5 and the Protea players in their midst. As team we are under no pressure and would not go into a final as an unbeaten team,” Badenhorst concluded.
According to Chanté Bester, captain of the NWU-Pukke team, the atmosphere in the team is very good and that they are now much more of a team than they have been all year.
“We compete in the final for each other. We do not play for anyone else or for ourselves, only for one another in the team,” said Bester.
“As team we really worked hard on our attack and defence. Furthermore we focused on being a brilliant team together and to play good together,” Bester added.
Catch the NWU-Pukke at 18:45 on Monday up against the UP-Tuks in this year’s Varsity Netball tournament, only on SuperSport.
NWU-Pukke team: Sigrid (Sigi) Burger, Renske Stoltz, Marna Claassens, Kifiloe Tsotetsi (Fifi), Nicole Amiras, Mandolien (Mandy) Hermanus, Romé Dreyer, Monique Reyneke, Chanté Bester (captain), Jeanté Strydom, Simone Rabie, Zandré Kruger.
By Raynique Meyer
