England Roses captain looks ahead to Jamaica leg of Horizon Series
England Roses captain looks ahead to Jamaica leg of Horizon Series . 
The Jamaica Observer
Sunshine Girls' interim captain Shanice Beckford (left) and England Roses' captain Fan Williams having a moment during a reception for both teams held at the British High Commission in Kingston on Wednesday, November 20, 2024. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

With a 1-0 lead in the Vitality Netball Horizon Series, England Roses Captain Fran Williams is confident about their chances as they head into the final two matches against the Sunshine Girls on Monday and Tuesday at the National Indoor Sports Centre in St Andrew.

The Vitality Netball Horizon Series starts an annual international competition, featuring two England-based and two Jamaica-based matches fostering rivalry and growth in global netball for the next four years.

The series has been intense so far, with the first match ending in a 49-49 draw and England taking the second match 55-47.

Williams praised the level of competition between teams.

“Both matches were very close,” she told the Observer.

“We felt like with both teams, the level of competition was really high. And so, I think it’s going to be an exciting next leg of the series here in Jamaica. It’s still all to play for.

Williams expressed pride in her team’s performance, particularly their response to the drawn first match.

“I’m really proud of how we’ve performed so far as a team,” she said. “I think we were disappointed to draw the first game because we led for so much of it. But to respond the way we did in the second game and take out that win when we needed to win at home and set ourselves up to be able to win the series here was a really good response.”

Williams acknowledged the strength of both teams’ defences, saying that the matches have been low-scoring due to the defenders’ ability to win the ball. She says the team that can score more from their centre passes will win.

“I think defensively both teams have been really strong,” she said. “They’ve been low-scoring games because the defenders are winning lots of balls. So I think it will just be that whichever team can score more of their own centre passes will come out on top.”

As the Roses prepare to face the Sunshine Girls in Jamaica, Williams is aware of the challenge posed by the home crowd.

“We know for most of us it’s our first time playing over in Jamaica and having a wave of fans that are passionate, they’re going to be loud,” she said. “They are going to get behind their team. The Sunshine Girls here are such a top team for this country, so we know how proud they are as a nation of this squad. So yeah, it is going to be tough to come and face them with their eighth player, the fans.”

Williams says it will be important to stick to their game plan and rely on their team’s close bonds to counter this.

“We’re a really close squad as the Roses group, and we use our connections — the way we speak with each other, sticking to the task, being nice and focused on the game and not letting those things distract us will be really important,” she said with a smile on her face. “We can also be our own cheerleaders. So we know the crowd’s not going to be going for us but we can support each other and our bench, they can be screaming and really cheering on the girls too.”

Williams spoke of the significance of England’s world No 2 ranking but she says the team is focused on the series at hand rather than its ranking.

“It’s feeling good. It’s huge for us as a nation to be ranked second in the world,” she said. “We’ve not held the second position in the world very much at all in our history as a netball team. So we’re very proud of it but we’re not focusing on that too much. We’ve just got the series that we need to win and so we have to just make sure that we see it out. And when if we want to stay competitive in the world rankings, we need to win here so that’s what we’ve got to focus on.”

Williams says there is a high level of international netball competition.

“It shows that anyone in those kind of top rankings can beat each other on any given day,” she said.

“The level is so high that it’s just the team that turns up and plays good netball will win because the margins are so small.”
Jamaica
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https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2024/11/25/england-roses-captain-looks-ahead-jamaica-leg-horizon-series/
2024-11-25
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England Roses captain looks ahead to Jamaica leg of Horizon Series