Wales Win Nation's Cup

Tensions ran high on the final day of the NTUC FairPrice Foundations Cup as the six teams fought hard for all-important placings. Wales emerged victorious overall and were crowned Nations Cup Champions 2010 beating Scotland 30 – 53.

Singapore had to settle for fourth place losing to Tanzania 54 – 41 while Namibia beat India for a second time in a row to claim fifth place over India at sixth.

In the first game of the day, Namibia replayed India beating them by 49 goals with a final score line of 72 - 23 – one goal more than yesterday’s win. Describing the team’s first ever Nations Cup experience, Namibian coach Nico Smit said: “It was definitely an eye opener.

"We are not used to this high level of play and it was a learning experience, but the girls enjoyed every moment.

"Even those games that we lost, the amount of experience the team gained though that can only be earned in a tournament like this.”

Namibian Captain Hilma Ipinge came on in the second half for her last ever international cap before retirement. Speaking on her hopes for the future, she said: “I hope to take up umpiring to an advanced level. With regards to the team, I am confident that with the right coach they will go far and be a force to be reckoned with.

"We have a strong core of under 25s at the moment so if they are able to stay together the future looks bright.”

In the battle for 3rd place, Singapore started well with new GS Cassandra Soh starting her first game of the tournament with a 100% conversion rate, scoring 8 goals from 8 attempts to help win the first quarter 10 -14.

In the second quarter, however, Tanzania grew in confidence and went on the defensive conceding just one goal in the first twelve minutes. While Singapore were spurred on by an army of red supporters to score 4 goals in the remaining time, the African side entered half time in front 27 – 19.

Following a half time pep talk, Singapore came out determined in the second half but struggled to make up the deficit entering the final quarter trailing 43-30. While the home side managed to match the Tanzanians in the final quarter with a score line of 11-11, they had to settle for fourth place losing 54-41 overall.

After the match Singapore National Coach, Kate Carpenter said: “We opened really nicely but the second quarter was not good. We created a lot of error and from that point on the match was gone.” Regarding lessons learned, she added: “We need to be match strong and prevent the other team from building confidence.

"We have also drawn two African teams in the World Champs (South Africa and Botswana) which will be tough for us. They are very tall and hard to contain so we will be looking at all aspects of our game. We need to have more opportunity to play in congested matches to ensure we don’t have the same error rate.”

In the final match, Scotland lost to Wales in a dramatic reversal of fortunes given their win during the week. Wales started strong winning the first two quarters to enter half time 16 – 26 in front with Rebecca James in excellent form scoring 11 out of 12 attempts in the second quarter.

Scottish coach Denise Holland made three changes after the break taking on new players at GS, C and WD but the side failed to find their rhythm ending the quarter 23 - 42.

In the final quarter Wales remained dominant forcing Scotland to make costly errors and scoring 11 goals to Scotland’s 7 to win 30 - 53 overall. Following the victory, Welsh coach Melissa Hyndman, said: “I couldn’t be happier with the team. They stuck to the game plan, came out hard and had excellent discipline.”

Welsh co-captains Suzy Drane and Sara Hale were overjoyed at winning their first ever Nations Cup,  Suzy said: “We really progressed as the tournament went on and had a great performance in the second half, showing Singapore and the rest of the world we can play for a full 60 minutes. We will definitely celebrate this evening and let our hair down.”

Wales will return to Singapore in July for the WNC 2011 when they will play New Zealand, Fiji and Trinidad & Tobago in Pool B.

FINALS
1st: Wales
2nd: Scotland
3rd: Tanzania
4th: Singapore
5th: Namibia
6th: India

5th v 6th Match: Namibia v India (HT: 37 -12)
3rd v 4th Match: Tanzania 54 v Singapore 41 (HT: 27 - 19)
1st v 2nd Match: Scotland 30 v Wales 53 (HT: 16 - 26)

Day 1
Match 1: Singapore v India: 58 - 22 (HT: 36 – 10)
Match 2: Scotland v Tanzania: 46 – 33 (HT: 20 – 18)
Match 3: Wales v Namibia: 61 – 28 (HT: 28 – 15)

Day 2
Match 1: Scotland 59 v Namibia 43 (HT: 28 – 22)
Match 2: Tanzania 52 v Singapore 36 (HT: 25-14)
Match 3: Wales 74 v India 17 (HT: 36 – 9)     

Day 3
Match 1: Namibia 41 – Singapore 43 (HT: 20 – 19)
Match 2: Tanzania 60 – India 27 (HT: 28 – 12)
Match 3: Scotland 48 – Wales 41 (HT: 26 – 17)

Day 4
Match 1: Tanzania 45 – Namibia 37 (HT: 25 -18)
Match 2: India 24 – Scotland 68 (HT: 14 -32)
Match 3: Wales 49 v Singapore 39 (HT: 22 – 22)

Day 5
Match 1: Wales 69 v Tanzania 31 (HT: 33 -17)
Match 2:  Namibia 73 v India 25 (HT: 35 -15)
Match 3: Singapore 37 v Scotland 43 (16 -25)