Netball World Cup 2015 - Day 4

[joggerjayne]

Today are the last of the Pool games, so here is a quick heads-up on how the tournament works from here ...

At the moment, the teams are in four groups ... Pools A, B, C, D

England and Scotland are in Pool B with Jamaica and Samoa. Wales are in Pool D with Fiji, Uganda and Zambia.

The top 2 from each Pool go into a First 8 group. These are Pools E and F.

The bottom 2 from each Pool to into a Second 8 group. These are Pools G and H.

The First 8 and Second 8 groups play on days 5 to 8 ... meaning tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Okay, this is where you need to stay with me ...

The table now splits into the Play Offs side, and the Semi Finals side.

The Play Offs side consists of 12 teams ... all 4 teams from Groups G and H, and the bottom 2 teams from Groups E and F. These 12 teams are paired into 6 Play Off games, determined by their results from Groups G, H, E and F. Depending on their results in this round, the teams then play Placing Games, to determine their final placing in the World Cup tournament (from 5th to 16th).

The Semi Finals side takes the top 2 teams from Groups E and F. It's the usual format ... winners of E plays runners up of F, winners of F play runners up of E. The Semi Finals are on day 9, which is Saturday.

Which brings us to next Sunday, day 10. The Bronze Medal match (or the "3rd and 4th place Play Off") and ...

THE FINAL ... the Gold Medal Match ... the winners of which are the new World Champions.

So ... realistic expectations ... England should be in the Top 4, and it would be nice to see Scotland and Wales do well in the Play Off groups.

The MAJOR fly in the ointment at this stage is ... England expected to avoid Australia until later in the tournament. However, Australia unexpectedly lost one of their Pool games, and England have topped our Pool. That means we are playing Australia in the next round. Thanks for that, guys.

In the meantime, here are the latest Pool results ...

Malawi 75-31 Singapore

South Africa 89-17 Sri Lanka

Zambia 51-59 Fiji

In the match on AT THE MOMENT ...

Wales are beating Uganda 26-23 ... Come on the Welsh girls (so to speak).

Later this morning, Scotland have a tough game against the Jamaica. But England have already beaten the Sunshine Girls, and softened them up a bit for you, so good luck to Scotland.

Final scores to follow.

[joggerjayne]

Wales hanging on, 27-26

[joggerjayne]

Wales have slipped behind 30-31 but still hanging in there.

[joggerjayne]

Final score ...

Uganda 47-49 Wales

Well done the Welsh girls!

Up next ... (gulp) ... Scotland v Jamaica

[douglas9401]

The players will be glad to get back to the more traditional dry court game I'm sure.

[joggerjayne]

Hi, douglas x

Was that a "pool" gag?

:o)

[douglas9401]

That and a way to let you know that somebody's reading what you take the time to type, Jayne. :-)

[joggerjayne]

Aww, why thank you, douglas x

The Ed was thinking of starting a special section for my threads, called "Tumbleweed"

[bibblebub]

There's almost as many contributors to this thread as there are people in the arena for the Scotland game.

[joggerjayne]

:o/

[bibblebub]

Are the Scots keeping their score low so that they can stage a big comeback and win in the last few seconds?

[joggerjayne]

Ouch, the Sunshine Girls are on good form today.

But Scotland are playing well, and only down 13-6

Scotland are not going to win this game, but hopefully they will have a good game, and show that they can play against the world's top teams.

[joggerjayne]

That's the other possibility, bibble.

Lulling the Sunshine Girls into a false sense of security.

[whiskeryron]

// Lulling the Sunshine Girls into a false sense of security. // Been doing that all my life JJ, but never gaining any ground lol. Enjoyed your synopsis but my head is still spinning.

[joggerjayne]

You need to draw it, WR

When you see it on paper, it's quite simple.

So the Sunshine Girls were strong this morning ...

Scotland 24-71 Jamaica

They are a difficult team to beat. They are tall, strong, skilful.

England beat them, of course.

[joggerjayne]

Tomorrow (Tuesday) will be interesting.

Despite winning all our games, and finishing top of our group, England have ended up with the hardest Second Round match - against Australia. Thanks for that.

Here's how tomorrow looks ...

Samoa v Singapore
Trinidad and Tobago v Zambia
South Africa v Wales (a potentially winnable game for Wales)
Malawi v Uganda
Sri Lanka v Fiji
Barbados v Scotland (also a reasonable chance for Scotland)
New Zealand v Jamaica (that should be a great game)
Australia v England (ouch!)

Scores to follow tomorrow.