Madibaz made Tuks battle to qualify for VarsityNetball final
Defending VarsityNetball champion, Tuks, had to work hard on Monday to beat the Madibaz of the Eastern Cape in the semi-final of the tournament.
The Tuks netball team got to learn on Monday night in the Rembrandt Hall what the true meaning of digging deep means when they played the Madibaz in the VarsityNetball semi-final.
The score will show that the defending champions won 55-46, but there was much more drama than the final score suggests.
At halftime, Tuks was just hanging in there with a two-goal lead, and it seemed as if the Madibaz might just pull off one of the biggest upsets.
But Tuks coach Jenny van Dyk had an ace up her sleeve, which she did not expect to play. It was to deploy both her goal shooters, Iné-Mari Venter and Venetia Grobler, in the circle.
The day before during training Van Dyk made it clear that playing the two of them together was never going to be part of her game plan. However, as the saying goes – a true general is one who is capable of adapting to the realities of the war. The turning point in the match was when Venter started playing goal-attack and Grobler goal scorer.
Afterwards, Van Dyk compared the semi-final to a battle of wits between her and the Madibaz coach.
“I can’t remember when last I had resorted to making so many positional changes in any game. I never doubted the outcome of the game however what worried me was our team could just not get into a good rhythm, no matter what combinations I tried. We had our moments of brilliance, but we were never in total control. As a last resort, I decided to combine Iné-Mari and Venetia, and it paid off,” said a relieved Van Dyk after the match.
The Tuks coach was full of praise for the way the Madibaz made her team battle right to the end.
“As far as I am concerned it was one of the best ever performances by a Madibaz team. We expected a tough match, and they did not disappoint.”
Last night might be Venter’s second-last game for Tuks for a while. She has been offered a contract to play for the Melbourne Vixens and is leaving for Australia in December.
As to playing goal-attack last night, Venter said she enjoyed it. However, it made her realise that she got to work on her fitness especially since she will mostly be playing in that position for the Melbourne Vixens.
Apart from Venter and Grobler the other outstanding Tuks players were definitely the captain. Tshina Madau. She is like a proverbial Jack Russell terrier – small of stature but with a lot of heart. Always in the thick of things. Marlize de Bruin again had a good game while Akosua Mensah seemed to relish the challenge of disrupting any oppositions attacks.
Tuks will be playing Kovsies on Monday 8 October in Bloemfontein in the VarsityNetball final.
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