Netball: A dose of disappointment as young netballers falter

By RICHARD BOOCK and NZPA

The nightmare continues for netballer Adine Harper.

The young rookie, who agonised from the sideline last year as the Silver Ferns lost the world championship final, had another dose of disappointment at the weekend when her under-21 side finished third in the World Youth Cup in Cardiff.

Outmanoeuvred by Jamaica in the semifinal, the Young Ferns overcame a committed England side 63-47 in Cardiff yesterday to finish with the bronze medal and their lowest world seeding since the tournament's inception.

They did not manage to meet arch-rivals Australia, who went on to capture their third title in four attempts with a 58-47 win over Jamaica in the final.

Harper, the captain and the only Silver Ferns member in the team, said her defence had tried everything but had struggled to contain the aerial game of the Jamaicans, led by outstanding goal-shoot Edmarie Lumbsley, her side-kick Simone Forbes and wing-attack Sharmalee Watkins.

"When we came to this tournament we wanted to make it to the final and then we wanted to take the final out," she said.

"To not make the final was hugely disappointing.

"We probably didn't move the ball as much as we liked around the goal circle.

"We were seeing the pass but for some reason we were a bit hesitant - we looked much better when we trusted our instincts and let it go."

After making an appalling start to the semifinal and trailing 6-13 at the end of the first quarter, New Zealand rallied on the back of a 15-9 second quarter and went to the three-quarter mark with the scores at 34-34.

They fell behind at the start of the final period, but regained momentum through some scintillating shooting from Daneka Wipiiti, who sank long-range goals all around the circle to give her team the slightest of edges as the final whistle approached.

However, the game took a nosedive when Wiipiti was mysteriously penalised for pushing off her marker in the last minutes, allowing Jamaica to level the scores and take the lead from the subsequent pass-off.

Coach Georgina Salter blamed the loss on a combination of Jamaica's talent and her side's inability to close the lid in the final, nerve-fraying quarter.

"The Jamaican style overwhelmed ours ... we struggled to combat their game, and - in the end - we made a couple of errors which allowed them to sneak past us.

Salter's side repeated their 16-goal pool-play win over England in the playoff for third and fourth after leading 15-12 at the first quarter break, 27-24 at halftime and 43-35 at the three-quarters.

Australia, who already have the world championship trophy, survived an early onslaught from Jamaica to win the final in relative comfort, leading 15-14 at the end of the first quarter and 33-23 at halftime.