The Fijian Under-21 team finished third in the Digicel Punjas International Youth Series beating Samoa 48-42 at the Vodafone Arena yesterday.

Both teams were tied in the first quarter 11-11, Samoa took a two point lead in the second quarter 21-23. But Fiji fought back to lead the third and fourth quarters 38-31 and 48-42 respectively.

Coach Vicki Wilson was happy with the her girls performance throughout the series and grateful all 17 girls are exposed to international netball.

“I am definitely delighted to finish the series in third position and to win against Samoa, we made it very tough on ourselves,” Wilson said.

“We had a slow start once again but it is great to see we’ve put it together particularly in that third quarter where we won 17-9.

“We need to make sure we really value the ball when we get it into our forward line and to be able to at least get the ball into the goal circle for a scoring opportunity.

“I think every quarter was different, individually they all learnt and individually there were some improvement.

“Again we got 15 players plus the two who played in the Auckland Series so that is 17 players exposed internationally in the last six months which is a positive. It gives us a really good platform to work from.”

Despite the gallant performance, a spot in the final team to the Netball World Youth Cup in Botswana in October is not guaranteed for anyone.

“ I am very happy with the girls I have got but no one is guaranteed a position,” she said.

“They have to work hard, we need to be fitter, faster and stronger. When you do all those three things you make better decisions on court and your ball skills are better because you don’t become so fatigued so quickly.

“These girls will be working hard to get into that team as the final squad will be named in April.”

Meanwhile, Samoa coach Lee Edwards said there was still a lot of work to be done.

“Our performance against Fiji was the best we have had since the start of the tournament,” Edwards said.

“I am really happy with how they finished but we still have a lot to work on in regards to combination and just the basics.”

Edited by Osea Bola

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