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Fitness proves the difference as S’pore steamroll past Ireland in Nations Cup

SINGAPORE - Seeking to win the tournament for the first time since 2007, Singapore’s national netball team got their Mission Foods Netball Nations Cup campaign off to the winning start that they wanted by thumping Ireland 52-37 at the OCBC Arena yesterday afternoon.

Singapore's Charmaine Soh was in red-hot form against Ireland in the Nations Netball Cup. Photo: Netball Singapore

Singapore's Charmaine Soh was in red-hot form against Ireland in the Nations Netball Cup. Photo: Netball Singapore

SINGAPORE - Seeking to win the tournament for the first time since 2007, Singapore’s national netball team got their Mission Foods Netball Nations Cup campaign off to the winning start that they wanted by thumping Ireland 52-37 at the OCBC Arena yesterday afternoon.

Veteran goal-shooter and crowd favourite Charmaine Soh was in red-hot form as she sank 43 goals. Goal-attacker Pamela Liew put in four goals while Zhang Ailin scored five times.

The eventual scoreline, however, belied how close the two sides were in the first two quarters.

Despite being ranked eight places below world No 17 Singapore, Ireland gave as good as they got, and found themselves trailing the Republic by just four goals in the first quarter (10-14) and three at half time (20-23).

It was only in the third quarter that Singapore finally surged ahead.

After head coach Ruth Aitken brought on goal-attack Zhang, goal-keeper Shina Teo and wing defender Parveen Nair, Singapore pulled away  for a 35-30 lead in the third quarter before eventually steamrollering past the Irish.

Although the final result does not accurately reflect how her team scrapped against the hosts, Ireland coach Joan Young said she was pleased with the performance.

Explaining that she had four players who were making their international debuts, she said: “I thought we were very competitive for three quarters.

“The biggest problem today is that we are a new squad and the players are not very familiar with one another. So their vision was limited at times.”

Aitken admitted her charges were feeling the nerves before the game.  “I thought it was a bit of a nervous start,” she said. “Obviously, everyone is very excited about playing at home but once we got our rhythm, we finished off very well.

“Ireland’s defence played really well, so we had to change the angle of our attack. We had to keep things moving and finally got good speed in the last quarter, and that really made the difference

The New Zealander is hoping that her players will settle more quickly into their second game against Botswana today, and maintain their consistency throughout all four quarters. Botswana defeated Zambia 46-43 last night.

Singapore co-vice-captain Nurul Baizura said that fitness proved the difference in the end. “The difference was that we had better legs. We could really go on for 60 minutes. I think they got tired after the half, and we capitalised,” she said.

“We also stepped up our communication today. We called one another’s names out and everything and also felt the support from our bench. 

Singapore last played world No 19 Botswana last year, edging out the African side 44-43 in a thrilling battle for third place.

“We will do a video analysis of the Botswana game. The African style of play is also very different from a European style of play, so we also need to adjust accordingly,” said Aitken. 

“We will have to build on our winning start”

In another match last night, Papua New Guinea beat Canada 73-30.

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