The UAE avoided relegation in the Europe Netball Championship after edging out hosts Northern Ireland on a better goal aggregate in the Under-17 competition in Antrim at the weekend.
The championship consisted of five nations — Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England and the UAE, who finished fourth based on the scores, even though they didn’t win any games.
The UAE Eyasses went down to England 81-22 and were beaten by Northern Ireland (losing 44-49), Scotland (47-52) and Wales (52-53) in the remaining games.
According to the format, if a team gets within five goals of the lead score, they are awarded two points, and the UAE managed this against Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Northern Ireland were level with the UAE at the end of the tournament but the UAE were ahead on goal average.
As a result, Northern Ireland were relegated and the UAE maintain their position in this higher level championship competition.
“It is only our second time in the championship section of the competition for this age group and we have cemented the fact that U17 UAE netball belongs at that level having earned our fourth place out of five excellent teams in the top international netball stage,” the UAE head coach Deborah Jones said.
“For the most part, our consistent match play across the whole weekend, pushing the top teams in this age group, has enabled us to establish the UAE within the performance in the netball arena.
“The team excelled in many areas including an improvement in overall team shooting stats; they were methodical and played some outstandingly mature netball.
“At times the game plans were clinically executed and they have showed they are ready to step up to the challenge of winning the silver medal next year.”
The improvement clearly proves the UAE’s progress. England swamped them 102-12 in their first meeting in March 2019, but they showed remarkable improvement when going down 85-29 (in February 2022) and 81-22 at the weekend.
“The amount of goals England are putting on us is reducing each time we have played against them, which is testament to the hard work the team are putting out on the court from end to end defensively and our ability to break down their play is improving,” Jones said.
“Our team defence is improving; last year we allowed England to have 96 shots on goal and this year we reduced that to 93. In the last quarter of the game, we limited them to 18 opportunities on goal and we have never kept them under 22, which is a massive improvement.”
Even though the UAE didn’t return with a medal at this top-flight tournament their overall performance was positive for many reasons. The UAE managed to challenge Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales by sticking to the game plan and executing their personal game targets.
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“Lessons were put into practice as the championship progressed, culminating in our best scoreline in the final game against Wales,” said Emily Fensome, the UAE’s assistant coach.
“We were patient, clinical and consistent, which all lead to giving those experienced countries a tightly contested game.
“In terms of what we have to do to turn the losses into wins; we need to harness all of the lessons and invaluable experience from this competition to know when to push on and close out a game.”
Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have been in the championship competition for years, and to push them to within a five-goal game was a phenomenal achievement and one their technical staff can be proud of.
“Our game plan across the championship was to focus on achieving our own personal targets, both in units and individually and to remain calm under pressure,” Fensome added.
“We believe that we achieved our game plan for the majority of the weekend and are super proud of the squad.”
The next U17 Europe Netball Championship is from March 8-10 next year and the venue is yet to be confirmed.
