The North West Flames are in a precarious position after losing their first four matches of the 2022 Telkom Netball League in Durban.

The Flames were on the receiving end of heavy defeats against the Jaguars (72-36) and Fireballs (62-35). Both those Gauteng based teams are frontrunners for the title and they underlined their class in those matches.

The Flames had a great opportunity to beat the Kingdom Stars but were thwarted by 57-52 largely due to a stellar performance from former Flames goal attack, Renske Stoltz.

The Western Cape Stings also took the Flames down by 58-44 to add more pressure on Elsunet du Plessis’ team.

The NW Flames are quite a young outfit, compared to the other division 1 sides, but have always been able to rise to the occasion. It seems like an age ago when the Flames took second place in the competition back in 2017.

NW Flames captain Didintle Keebine and her team mates will need to push themselves even further if they are to avoid relegation to division 2.

The Flames have a two week break, before heading for the next leg of the tournament in Pretoria from 20 May.

They will hope to learn from their mistakes and put in an improved performance to get their first victory of the competition.