Sunbirds fly high in national netball league

Mpumalanga’s own Sunbirds managed a top-three finish in this year’s Telkom Netball League (TNL) campaign.

The last round of the competition saw the teams facing off in what was called a power week. Instead of them only playing two or three fixtures like they did over the previous weekends, the teams played for the entire week, from June 23, to secure spots in the semi-finals that took place on Thursday, June 29 with the final of division 2 played on June 30 and the division 1 final on July 1.

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The Sunbirds kicked their power week off with a fixture against the Eastern Cape Comets on June 24. The Mpumalanga outfit put some beautiful, clinical netball on display to claim their eighth victory in the competition. They won the encounter 11 goals to the good. The final scoreline was 55-44. After the match, the ‘Birds’ co-captain, Maryke Coetzee, said they would go into the rest of the power week taking it game by game.

And that’s exactly what they did. The Sunbirds faced off with the number 2 team in division 2, the Western Cape Tornados. The previous time these two teams met each other on court, the Sunbirds fought tooth and nail for the full 60 minutes and finished the game with a two-goal lead, claiming probably one of their best victories of the competition. However, this time around, the Tornados proved their dominance and sealed the deal with only one goal in it.

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They returned back to their winning ways in their third match of the power week when they managed a convincing victory over the side from the Free State, the Sonoblomo. They beat them 58-39.

The Sunbirds’ final round robin match was played on June 28 against the Northern Cape Diamonds. Both these teams were determined to secure good log positions ahead of the semi-finals. The Sunbirds, however, won the encounter 42 goals to 37.

The side’s co-captain, Palesa Mbukwana, also won her 17th accolade in a national league, her third of this year’s TNL campaign.

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The Sunbirds have won 10 of their 14 matches in the tournament, and sat comfortably in third place on the division 2 log.

They took court against the Tornados in the second semi-final. Even though the Birds put it all out on court, the Western Cape side were just too strong for them this time around.

They lost the fixture by a nine-goal margin; 46-37. Nonetheless, the Sunbirds still had another shot for a medal, playing for third and fourth place.

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Here they measured strengths with the Diamonds. They closed their 2023 TNL season off with a victory, and with that, a bronze medal as well.

“We’re very happy to go home with the bronze medal. It’s not gold, but it’s almost there,” Coetzee said after their last play-off match.

The Limpopo Baobabs were crowned champions of division 2 after they beat the Tornados 65-40. The Gauteng Jaguars won the title in division 1 for the sixth time following their staggering 59-51 victory over the Free State Crinums.