Proteas coach impressed with her troops after win over Wales

After guiding the SPAR Proteas to their opening Netball World Cup win over Wales, coach Norma Plummer is impressed and praised her troops.

Led by skipper Bongi Msomi, the Proteas had a fantastic display in front of their fans at a packed Cape Town International Convention Centre against Wales on Friday.

ALSO READ I Proteas tame Wales to open Netball World Cup with a win

In her reaction, Plummer said she was pleased with the display but she wants more from her side, Proteas, per IOL.

The Netball World Cup hosts bagged a 61-50 victory over their Welsh counterparts and the seasoned coach, Plummer was impressed in the first quarter.

SPAR PROTEAS COACH IMPRESSED WITH WALES WIN

There’s no doubt that Plummer’s troops are touted as favourites but promised that there are some areas the Proteas need to work on.

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It was an emotional opening game for the Proteas with Player of the Match Ine-Marie Venter shedding a tear during the national anthems.

“Our first quarter was absolutely sensational. We got off to a great start. We have been a bit slow in that area,” Plummer said.

ALSO READ: SPAR Proteas must win the opening match

“But we knew Wales would change up their game, and they did. They set up the press in the middle, which meant we had to slow up the game. I thought we handled it quite well in the second quarter.

ALSO READ: Brave SPAR Proteas squad reminded to carry Mzansi hopes

“I thought they went up a notch in the third, and then we started to spray a few balls, and that was disappointing. We went too wide. What do we get out of that? We know we have a lot to work on. We will need to get some work on that.”

COACH PLUMMER PROUD WITH PROTEAS’ PERFORMANCE

Formerly in charge of England where she won the prestigious World Cup title, Plummer expressed delight in the overall performance but expressed a few concerns.

She said the dip in performance through the middle period was due to her players adjusting to being together again.

ALSO READ: Brave SPAR Proteas squad reminded to carry Mzansi hopes

“I only had the players that came back from overseas from the 15th of July, so we really needed to work on getting connections before we could even think tactically about other things,” Plummer added.

“Overall, I am very proud and pleased. Not a bad performance. It was a cracking game!”

In their next match, the Proteas will meet a wounded Sri Lanka who lost to Jamaica – the match is on Saturday at 16:00.

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