Unbeaten S’pore, Samoa face off
SINGAPORE – After three straight wins at the Netball Nations Cup (Dec 7-13), Singapore will face their stiffest test today when they take on world No 14Samoa in a possible preview of Saturday’s final.
SINGAPORE – After three straight wins at the Netball Nations Cup (Dec 7-13), Singapore will face their stiffest test today when they take on world No 14Samoa in a possible preview of Saturday’s final.
Yesterday at the OCBC Arena, Singapore, ranked 19th, posted a comfortable 47-20 win over Ireland. Against the tournament minnows, head coach Ruth Aitken took the chance to rotate her players.
But the Kiwi warned that her players must up their game today to counter Samoa’s aggressive style of play. “It is going to be a huge challenge and another step up,” said Aitken. “Samoa are really efficient in attacking. Their timing is very good and they use bodies well to get into spaces.
“We have been a little loose in some of our throw-aways. So it is about being really patient with the ball and to go hard on it because, obviously, they got some bigger bodies.”
Yesterday, Samoa beat Botswana 49-34 to stay perfect in the tournament, while Malaysia (world No 23) toppled higher-ranked Papua New Guinea 52-43. ADELENE WONG
Today’s matches — 3pm: Botswana v Malaysia; 5pm: Papua New Guinea v Ireland; 7pm: Singapore v Samoa