Dorette Badenhorst, head coach of the NWU-Pukke, is back from overseas and the match against the University of Johannesburg will be one of her first matches as coach for this year’s Varsity Netball tournament.
The NWU-Pukke worked hard in last year’s match against UJ to claim it 60-52 in Bloemfontein.
When Badenhorst was asked about to the match against UJ, she made it clear that UJ is always a strong team.
“Even though UJ lost against the Madibaz it doesn’t matter. They still remain a strong team to play against. With a strong, tall player like Deancke Rohde we’ll have to choose the circle in such a way that the goal defence and goal keeper will be able to reach her. Furthermore Kim-Roche is an accurate goal attack who plays the same type of circle that we play,” said Badenhorst.
“We’ll focus on turning the ball in the centre court and try to prevent it from reaching UJ’s goal circle. It will be more difficult to turn the ball there. We’ll also have to focus on our own centre and try to create chances to shoot goals,” added Badenhorst.
The NWU-Pukke made it clear that this is only the start of the tournament and that they will take the win against Maties on the chin.
“We struggled against Maties to gain rhythm, but the stress of the first game is now behind us. As team we now know what to focus on,” said Chanté Bester, captain of the NWU-Pukke.
“It is still a long tournament and the fact that we have beaten Maties is not a sign that we will be in the final again. As team we take it match by match and we still need to improve a lot if we want to make it into this year’s final,” added Bester.
Although Badenhorst wasn’t courtside at Coetzenburg Indoor Centre on Monday, she found it much more difficult to watch it on television.
“We made a lot of mistakes. We are back at ball placing and possession. What is of importance to me is the amount of turnovers against us. We must rectify those mistakes. Against a strong team it is going to cost us dearly,” Badenhorst concluded.
With the Maties match behind them, the Pukke side is training hard this week for their match against UJ on Sunday at the UJ Sports Hall in Johannesburg. The match begins at 16:30. The following day they face Kovies at 17:30 and the match will be live on SuperSport 10.
NWU-Pukke team: Sigrid Burger (Sigi), Renske Stoltz, Kifiloe Tsotetsi (Fifi), Marna Claassens, Romé Dreyer, Mandolien Hermanus (Mandy), Chanté Bester, Jomarie Myburgh, Simone Rabie, Zandre Kruger, Jeanté Strydom, Monique Reyneke
By Raynique Meyer
