The home crowd support at the Sun City Superbowl in Rustenburg has been credited with fanning the North West Flames in their strong start to the Telkom Netball League 2025.
The raucous crowd also roared Tshukudu, a Division 2 side from the province, to a convincing win over the Limpopo Lilies in an intense match on the second day of competition.
The Tshukudu supporters brought the house down with their energetic cheering and vibrant spirit, lifting the team. Their passionate backing clearly fuelled the players’ confidence, helping Tshukudu maintain momentum and finish strongly.
Flames coach Elsunet du Plessis highlighted the significant role the crowd had played in their shock 60-57 win over the Jaguars from Gauteng in a thrilling and fast-paced match.
“I think it is amazing to have the crowd behind you because we are used to playing without any support with us,” she said.
“It is a confidence booster to the players. It’s just nice to know that there’s someone there, there’s a big crowd that really support us and I also just want to give a big shout out to the crowd and thank them for their support.
“I was just telling them (the players) that the question now is how much you want it. If you want to let it slip, let it slip but we didn’t come this far to let it slip so we really need to work together and really play as a team to put us through.”
Jaguars coach Roxanne Matthyse commended her side’s opening performance, highlighting the impact of her three debutants and their ability to stick to the game plan.
“It was a very difficult for us, we started slow and it was like playing catch up the whole time. But we would rather have this happening in the beginning of the leg and not towards the end. A lot of lessons for me as a coach and for my players.
“Taking accountability, for one, it didn’t work for us on attack. Every time you think find confidence and you build on that, there’s a mistake.
“For the Jaguars that’s not how we play. You know we set a high standard, and we need to make sure we maintain that standard,” added Matthyse.
It was a baptism of fire for last year’s beaten finalists. And things were set to only get tougher with a repeat of last year’s decider against Free State Crinums rounding off Monday’s play.
The Fireballs and Stings turned up the heat in their Division 1 clash! 🔥 The Fireballs take the win and stay undefeated in Division 1. 💥#TNLFireballsStings #TelkomNL #TNLisBack #TelkomStandTall @TelkomZA pic.twitter.com/Y6TP7RNniH
— Netball South Africa (@Netball_SA) April 28, 2025
Meanwhile, the Fireballs continued their winning streak in the TNL, racking up a third dominant victory on the third day of competition.
In their first match on Sunday, they thrashed the Zambezi Eagles 61-40, with fast transitions and clinical shooting. Later on Sunday they overpowered the Baby Proteas 68-35, controlling the game from start to finish with sharp attacking play and tight defence.
The Fireballs showed no signs of slowing down on Monday. They thrashed the Southern Stings 63-42 with another clinical, composed display.
The SA Under-21 team bounced back in impressive fashion on Monday, beating the Eastern Cape Aloes 54-47. The second invitation team in the tournament, the Eagles, also rebounded strongly to see off the Baobabs 56-48.
