Netball England Roses V New Zealand 2018
London Journalist and Actor Kiran Rai was on match side presenting in front of 25k people at the cooper box last night and saw England V New Zealand play against each other and managed to interview the England netball players which won against New Zealand alongside with Ajit Kumar.
England Roses began their Quad Series campaign in thrilling fashion on Saturday, beating four-time world champions New Zealand 64-57 after extra time to kick-start their Commonwealth Games preparations in front of an elated home crowd in London. Using this Quad Series against New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa as a build-up for the biggest event in the netball calendar, Tracey Neville’s side looked to be staring at defeat in their opening match as they slipped to a six-point deficit when trailing 37-43 with one quarter remaining at a sold-out Copper Box. But the Roses refused to succumb against the world No 2 side, clawing their way back to 49-49 at the final whistle and dominating extra time to claim a win that will doubtless inspire huge confidence ahead of their trip to the Gold Coast for April’s Commonwealth Games.
Ranked third in the world, England is determined to muscle in on the duopoly of New Zealand and Australia, who are the only two nations to have ever claimed gold at a major international competition, and Neville said the result shows how tight things are between the top teams. It was pure heart and soul,” said the England head coach. “I was so proud of the way the girls ended that game. We are Roses that go to infinity. Player of the match Serena Guthrie added: “I think [victory] says that we’ve got a hell of a lot fight in us that’s for sure. “We shouldn’t have let them in, but we fought back in the fourth quarter, got ourselves into an opportunity to win the game and that’s what we did. I’m so happy. “Where in the past we might have panicked and felt the pressure, we know how to stay calm.” England has little time to revel in Saturday’s triumph, with a quick turnaround to face reigning world champions and world No 1 side Australia back at the Copper Box on Monday.
They then fly to Johannesburg for their final match of the Quad Series against South Africa on January 28. Those two sides faced off in Saturday’s early match in London, with Australia coming from behind to beat South Africa 54-50.
By Kiran Rai
