Pearls Not Taking Their Chances, Must Win Qualifier
The Fiji Pearls will play every game like it’s their last, says head coach Unaisi Rokoura.
They know what is expected of the side as they host the Oceania Netball World Cup Qualifier at the Vodafone Arena in Suva starting on Tuesday.
The Pearls take on Papua New Guinea at 5:30pm; Tonga and Samoa play at 7:30pm while Cook Islands will be on bye.
Rokoura said with Samoa winning the last qualifier, the Pearls are determined to book a place at next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
“This is a major and critical competition for us, the World Cup qualifier,” Rokoura said.
“Going into next week, we know we are ranked fourth in this competition.
“Tonga beat us recently, Samoa won the last qualifiers and realistically we have no idea how Cook Islands along with Papua New Guinea.”
These past few weeks, the side have been focusing on their attack and defending strategies.
The team has been in camp for the past week including overseas-based players Kelera Nawai, Maria Lutua, Vakaoca Bolakoro and Vilisi Tavui.
She said the senior players like Lutua, captain Alisi Naqiri and the Rusivakula sisters – Afa and Maliana have blended in well with the newcomers.
“At the moment the morale is very high, the girls are focusing at the task on hand,” Rokoura said.
“This week is just fine tuning, putting the pieces together and cleaning up what we need to fix.
“It’s always a different story to play at home. You have the home crowd behind you, at the end of the day it’s a lot of pressure to perform.
“We believe in every player we have selected the 15 who they know the task at hand and what’s in place for us.
“It’s either now or never. Every game we play, is like playing our last game and the girls know that.”
According to the World Netball ranking in March; 14th is Cook Islands with 82 points, Fiji is ranked 15th with 70 points, Samoa 16th with 68 points and Papua New Guinea is ranked 35th with 11 points.
Feedback: sereana.salalo@fijisun.com.fj
