Tshwane, Cape Town, Mangaung and Johannesburg have qualified for the semifinals.
Tshwane players during a match at the National Netball Championships at Stellenberg High School in Cape Town. Picture: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images
Though they have dominated throughout the opening round, Tshwane coach Rozanne Matthyse admits her team still have a lot of work ahead of them in order to lift the title at the Spar National Netball Championships in Cape Town.
After four days of competition, the unbeaten Gauteng North district side topped the log with 12 points on Sunday, and they were set to enter the semifinals on Monday as favourites.
“We wanted to come into this tournament and set a standard, and I think we’ve done that,” Matthyse said.
“From the first match we knew exactly what we wanted to do, and for us we are unbeaten and in the top four, but we still have one more [round-robin game ahead of the play-offs] and that’s part of the process.
“So at this stage we are confident of our standing and where we are on the log, but we know there are still three more matches until we can seal the deal.”
‘We can’t waste our lead’
Despite winning all six of their games thus far, Matthyse felt her team had shown complacency in the second half of some matches, and she said they needed to be wary of this heading into the play-offs as Tshwane targeted their first SA title since 2020.
“It’s a conversation we’ve had since the first game because I think quarters three and four is something we need to look at… and the positive I’m taking from that is that they bounce back every time, but we can’t waste our lead when we’ve worked for it,” she said.
While the four semifinal teams had been determined – Tshwane, Cape Town, Mangaung and defending champions Johannesburg – all sides had one more round-robin match to play on Monday before they knew who they would meet in the penultimate round later in the day.
Behind the log leaders, hosts Cape Town were lying second in the table with 10 points, followed by Mangaung (nine points) and Johannesburg (seven).
The other four sides in the senior A division – Dr Kenneth Kaunda, Nelson Mandela Bay, Ethekwini and Alfred Nzo – were too far back in the standings to challenge for a spot in the play-offs.
