#TuksNetball: Jaguars vs Stings in the Telkom Netball League promises to be a thriller

Posted on May 22, 2019

The battle for log supremacy in the Telkom Netball League will reach a peak on Sunday when the Jaguars faces off to the Stings in the Tuks Rembrandt Hall.
 
The Western Cape Stings is currently the only unbeaten team while the Jaguars has only lost once. It was the Stings who had beaten them, but they only managed to do so in the dying seconds of the game and only by only one goal. 
 
The two teams also contested last year's final. The Jaguars, basically an all Tuks team, ran out the victors. 
 
Marlize de Bruin (Jaguars captain) admits that the outcome of Sunday's game could impact on the tournament's semi-finals as whoever wins will assuredly top the log and get to play the "easier" game.
 
The Jaguars captain is quite honest in her assessment of their first encounter against the Stings. 
 
"I don't want to take anything away from the Stings. It was impressive how they played themselves back into the game, but in the end, we got only ourselves to blame. We were in control but lost focus and ended up paying for it. In a way, it was good that we had lost as it took some pressure from us," explained. 
 
The Jaguars started the tournament having won 18 games on the trot over the last two years. If they had kept on winning the pressure certainly continuously would have mounted.
 
De Bruin tips the Crinums as the team to beat in the Telkom League. 
 
"What makes them formidable is that they never give up. The Crinums can be ten goals down and still make a fight of it up to the very last minute of the game. They also got quite a physical approach to the game. Up to two days, after you have played against them, your body will still let you know that it was involved in a tough encounter."
 
The 22-year old Chantelle Swart, playing goal shooter as well as goal attack, has been truly impressive for the Jaguars in their first four games. She seems to rarely miss when shooting for goal. In the first two encounters, her goal percentages were respectively 88% and 92% while the past weekend in the two quarters she played against the Flames she never missed. 
 
Swart credits the former Proteas goal shooter, Chrisna van Zy,l for her accuracy. 
 
"It is the second time we are playing together in the tournament. The first time was in 2017. Chrisna and I somehow seem to gel when we play together. We don't really speak during games. It is as if she knows what I am going to do even before I have done so. The opposite is also true. I also get to learn a lot from her as she has so much experience."
 
This weekend Telkom fixtures (all games are played at the Tuks Rembrandt Hall).
Friday - 14:00: Stars vs Baobabs; 16:00: Flames vs Stings; 18:00: Sunbirds vs Diamonds; Smileys vs 'President's Stars (Males).
Saturday - 10:00: Aloes vs Baobabs, 12:00: Jaguars vs Fireballs;14:00: Sunbirds vs Stars; 16:00: Stings vs;  Crinums; 18:00: Smileys vs 'President's Stars (Males). 
Sunday - 09:30: Aloes vs Diamonds; 11:30: Crinums vs Fireballs; 13:30: Stings vs Jaguars; 15:30: Smileys vs Flames.
- Author Wilhelm de Swardt

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