Thistles qualify for 2023 NWC On Home Soil

Victory over the Welsh Feathers saw Thistles Cape Town bound.

Five days of incredible netball came to a close with an intense game between The Scottish Thistles and Welsh Feathers this evening. Both teams had already qualified for the 2023 Netball World Cup from their previous games but this didn’t stop the match being one of the best of the whole tournament. The Welsh side narrowly won with a final score of 51:58.

Despite the final game result the Thistles had an incredible tournament. When asked about the qualification for the 2023 World Cup,  head coach Tamsin Greenway only had had praise for the girls saying how she was ‘relieved, happy and proud’

‘I think we had a very clear idea on what we needed to improve on from the Commonwealth Games and in about 8 weeks they’ve done it, they’ve taken the first step and you saw in that in the performances’

‘You get so caught up in the journey in what you’re trying to do you forget to take a step back and enjoy it. That’s the nice bit of being a coach, when you take a step back and they get what they owe themselves.’

Dominating their first four matches against Isle of Man, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar, the Thistles guaranteed their ticket to Cape Town next summer before their final game.

The battle against Northern Ireland was a high stakes game as both teams had won all of their games up until this point.

Greenway was keen to emphasise the importance of the match. ‘Coming in knowing one of you is going to miss out on the World Cup is pretty brutal and it heaps on all kind of pressure’

‘This week has been fantastic, we are off to Cape Town and that was our aim’

The journey to Cape Town is now well underway for Scotland as they prepare for the international stage once again.

Img: Ben Lumley