New Zealand netball coach Noeline Taurua was matter-of-fact when summing up her team’s 67-51 semi-final defeat by Jamaica.
“There’s a gulf in the standard of individual players and on the competitive side,” she said. “It was a match in which they were just better than us. We weren’t good enough.”
Taurua said this was the best Jamaican side she’d seen. “They’re disciplined, have physical capability and they have those bookends at each end of the court. They’re a smooth team.”
New Zealand are the current world champions, having won that title in 2019, but the combination in Birmingham is relatively inexperienced and they certainly came up against a talented and fired-up Jamaican team in the semi-final.
The Jamaicans leaned on two players in particular.
Goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler, the captain, succeeded with all 54 of her shots, some of them from well away from the hoop, and Shamera Sterling, the goal keep, who made life torrid for the New Zealand shooters, especially in the first half.
But the entire Jamaican team played with pace and vision. It was easy to understand how they had beaten Australia in their final pool match.
Jamaica had 67 shots at goal and, astoundingly, succeeded with all of them. New Zealand manufactured 55 shots and landed 51 of them.
New Zealand shooter Grace Newke, when she took the court after halftime, handled herself well. Her shooting was unerring – 24 from 24 - and she showed more movement than previously. Te Paea Selby-Rickit had 16 shots and succeeded with 14 of them, and worked hard to evade the quicksilver Jamaican defenders.
But at the other end of the court the New Zealand defence was never really able to handle the threat of Fowler, who has height, some bulk and athleticism. They tried to break up the game outside the circle, but the speed and reflexes of the Jamaicans made it difficult.
“Once the ball gets to Fowler, you may as well shut up shop. The work has to be done on the outside.”
New Zealand trailed 36-22 at halftime and the game was over, to all intents and purposes. “In that situation, you have to appeal to their pride and look for players who will keep grinding it out, keep their heads high,” Taurua said.
The Jamaicans forged ahead 52-35 by three-quarter time and actually pushed their lead out to 22 before taking their foot off the pedal. Over the final 10 minutes they took most of the senior players off the court, saving them for tomorrow’s final.
New Zealand, meanwhile, need to regroup and prepare for the formidable challenging of having to beat England just to win a bronze medal.