By CHRIS RATTUE
The touring South African team are hoping to close the losing gap on the Silver Ferns, but former national coach Yvonne Willering says they face a massive task even achieving that.
Willering has been helping the tourists' assistant coach Hazel Gumede, partly because Willering's friend and South Africa's head
coach, Louise du Plessis, only arrived to join her side late this week. Du Plessis had some personal commitments back home.
The South Africans play tests against New Zealand at the North Shore Events Centre tonight, and tomorrow in Christchurch.
Willering says it will be tough.
"They have come here without their tall goal shooter which means they will need to find a completely different style of game.
"They were basically playing an aerial game but now they are going to have to feed it lower to their shooters. Then again, their team is not as small as it has been in the past so there are differences to adjust to there.
"They've also got six newcomers, they only selected the side a week before leaving, they've only been in the country four days so will still be recovering, and they will be dealing with a new style of game. They could get thrashed.
"Many of them have very limited international experience and while New Zealand has lost older players, they still have a lot of top-level experience throughout the team.
"Like many teams around the world, funding is a big issue and it means they don't get enough international exposure.
"You just can't expect them to be super competitive under these circumstances. It's a fine line between whether getting beaten heavily is good for a team's development or not ... However, there are always some benefits to be gained - like learning to deal with things like travel."
Willering says in contrast, the cancellation of the Tri-Nations gave New Zealand an ideal chance to build a new team away from the pressures Australia would exert.
She has stayed clear of giving the South Africans tips on the New Zealand players, saying it would be pointless anyway and it was better for them to stick to the basic aims of their own game.
New Zealand has recorded 88-34, 81-35, 74-37 and 86-30 wins over the South Africans in tests held in South Africa and Australia during the past two seasons.
They have beaten New Zealand just once in 16 meetings, by two goals at the 1995 world championships in Birmingham.
The tourists want to reduce the trend of massive scorelines against them, although Willering suggests 50-goal differences are a real possibility.
South African captain Martha Mosoahle says Willering has been lending a guiding hand, rather than running the training sessions.
"She's just helping us a bit," says the 23-year-old, who has a masters in sociology and is a primary school teacher in Johannesburg.
"Because we haven't had so much international exposure, we need some guidance on rules and umpiring. But she hasn't given us any tips on the New Zealand team.
"We were losing by 40 or 50 goals in the last Tri-Nations and we're confident of doing better than that.
"One of our aims is to score 40 goals a game, 10 goals per quarter. That's very realistic.
"We have our own style we want to play but I can't give away any secrets. But we have to work hard as a team and be disciplined on the ball."
One of the people standing in the way of the South African aims will be their former ace goal shooter Irene van Dyk.
"Of course at first we were very disappointed when Irene left," Mosoahle says. "You always are when you lose something you love.
"We're over that now. There are a lot of talented young players coming through."
While the current team includes experienced players such as 31-year-old Martha Machoga, assistant coach Gumede says many more young players of colour are now getting their opportunities to shine.
"We've brought three of those young players on this tour.
"They are very keen and I don't think it will take too much to get them going. They just need a bit of polishing. By the time of the world championships [in Jamaica] next year they'll be fine," Gumede says.
"We can't look forward to winning on this tour but we do aim to get better.
"We want to reduce the scorelines although I can't say exactly what we'd like them to be."
By CHRIS RATTUE
The touring South African team are hoping to close the losing gap on the Silver Ferns, but former national coach Yvonne Willering says they face a massive task even achieving that.
Willering has been helping the tourists' assistant coach Hazel Gumede, partly because Willering's friend and South Africa's head
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.