#14 Jamaica

I was nervous before the Jamaica game today, I won’t lie. England Roses have looked slick but have been largely untested, in this World Cup.

Regular readers will know I have also tipped Jamaica to cause a big upset and I was dreading that prediction coming back to bite me on the bum! Thankfully, like many of my netball predictions, I was wrong!

When you’re nervous you do tend to over analyse and I wondered negatively how much Layla Guscoth’s injury would impact the squad, if another injury would slash our chances and what would happen if we did (say it quietly) lose. All that is largely out of my control, some even out of the Roses control, so I gave  myself a good talking to, put the kettle on and settled down for a cracking game!

I was slightly disappointed we let them back into the game after going 10-5 up in the first quarter - but this is elite sport remember and we know, probably more than any other team, that Jamaica should not be underestimated. For years they have been a bit of a bogey team for England.

There are plenty who will disagree with me ( most of my Coaching Network for a start!) but I thought   Housby & Harten showed their class today. Taking the knocks, keeping going, remaining patient & controlled - what u need from winning shooters! I did wander at one point whether Dunn would be introduced to be more of a ‘target’ but I think Housby & Harten grinding through the rough times and playing with beaming smiles when it went oh so slick, will only benefit the Roses in the latter stages. 

Our attack, overall, played clever. Remaining positive, drawing the contact & frustrating Jamaica. I think we’re very lucky in the Roses squad at the moment, our attack know any of our defensive line can turnover ball if needed - what a team! 

Individually I thought Geva Mentor had to be at her best today and so it proved. Fowler may well have 100% shooting stats (I mean absolute kudos for her at this level!) but she needs the ball to do damage and I felt Geva had the better of her today and confused the feeders enough to have an incredible impact. 

Captain fantastic Serena Guthrie also impressed. She did everything you would want as a Captain and then some! For me, for what it’s worth, she was Player of the Match and we will need her to recreate that performance when we come up against South Africa, Australia and  New Zealand. Well, if we win gold we’ve got to beat them all! 

A word about Jamaica. They will obviously hurt, they’ve got very little chance of a top four placing now and with their line up they would expect to be in the semi finals. 

And there I think, you have the problem: no one can expect anything at this World Cup. The hard work, the research and the infrastructure need to be there to support the players - not to mention the attitude from the players, to the coaching team right through to all the support staff. 

Slightly over exaggerating, but it seems every time I go on Twitter there is another ‘drama’ in the Jamaica Camp - whether it’s a new coach, Nelson ‘injured’ despite playing every week in the Suncorp Super Netball League or Romelda Aitken’s lowly shooting stats also in the Suncorp league. Are the Jamaican’s just too laid back in their approach in this post QUAD series netball era!? Is that their undoing? 

We turn our attention to South Africa later this week who should prove more of a test than Trinidad & Tobago. I see changes in the T&T match, with no disrespect to them whatsoever,  I think we’ll see Fran Williams at some point to rest Eboni, who probably didn’t expect quite as much Court time had Layla not been injured. Despite Harten & Housby’s immense game today I think we will see Dunn & potentially Haythornthwaite too. 

South Africa are riding high after their win against Jamaica and seem to be most fans ‘second team’. I’d like them to do well too - but not at the expense of the Roses!