Netball: Seymour puts motherhood on hold to answer Flames' call

By RICHARD BOOCK

Silver Fern Julie Seymour will make an unexpected return to top-class netball tomorrow night after being called into the Canterbury Flames squad for the Coca Cola Cup match against the Auckland Diamonds.

Seymour, who last played representative netball when New Zealand beat the World Seven in the final test last June, has been whistled into the Flames camp after an injury to Welsh mid-courter Ursula Bowers, and will stay for Sunday's game against the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic.

Under league rules, teams are allowed replacements only for a certified injury to an original member, and Bowers is likely to return if and when she recovers.

But the unbeaten Flames could hardly have a more capable replacement than 30-year-old Seymour, who put her 61-test career on hold late last year to have a baby.

After also losing Belinda Charteris and Tasha Marshall this season for the same reason, Canterbury would have welcomed back their experienced playmaker .

But it might not have been the news the Diamonds were looking for as they prepare to mount a late charge to secure one of the last playoff berths.

Georgie Salter's side are in sixth position with five points, and still have a mathematical chance of making the semis.

They will want to knock over Canterbury at Unitec Stadium tonight to give themselves a realistic chance.

But they will have to out-point a Flames combination boasting New Zealand defenders Vilimaina Davu and Anna Veronese, mid-courters Seymour and Margaret Foster, and Silver Ferns goal-attack Belinda Collling.

In other games, North Harbour's Rangitoto Force should be too strong for the bottom-placed Otago Rebels in Dunedin, fifth-placed Southern Sting are favoured to beat the seventh-placed Western Flyers in New Plymouth and third-placed Bay of Plenty Magic are fancied over eighth-placed Counties-Manukau Cometz in Hamilton.