This as she believes turnovers, especially those in mid-court was among the key factors contributing to why Jamaica lost 45-55 to England’s Roses on Sunday after having held a lead over the home team for the first half of their contest at the Copper Box Arena in London.
Jamaica led 27-25 at half-time but was outscored 16-9 and 14-10, in the third and fourth quarters, respectively, as England surged to a commanding victory.
Speaking with Sportsmax.TV after the team arrived in Nottingham on Monday, Francis also said the Sunshine Girls lacked match fitness and as a result, were not at their best in the second half. She also takes some of the blame for not adjusting to a few tactical changes England made during the game.
Notwithstanding those issues, Francis believes England are in a much better place than her team at this juncture.
“England right now is a better-conditioned team than us. They are an in-form team coming off a successful tour in New Zealand and they have a really good squad. Nevertheless, we took a really good squad but we have some players in our group that have not been playing netball for 18 months,” she said.
“So, for one, I don’t think we have reached our fitness goals as yet and, two, we lost our focus because we should have gone out there and capitalized in that third quarter.”
That said, Francis revealed that they are going back to the proverbial drawing board as they begin preparing to correct the errors made in the opening match of the three-Test series.
“We are in Nottingham now and we are going to a training session. Tomorrow we have another training session, we have a video session, so we have some days to also try some new persons in that mid-court area because at times I think out mid-court is a little too stagnant,” Francis said.
“Trying to get some players who have been there done that to add to that rotation and that didn’t help so it’s about moving out some other players from their comfort zone into that mid-court to see if we can get some more height and strength in because I think that having 27 turnovers wasn’t good enough and most of them were in that mid-court.
“If we had fixed some of those passes, some of those through-court plays, those feeds into our shooters then it was possible (the result) would have gone the other way around.”
Where Francis blames herself is that she didn’t react adequately to personnel changes England made in goal attack and goalkeeper positions, which made a significant difference.
“I think that possibly I could have done something a little different because when I looked at the tape I see where they had made a tactical change and I tried to fix it but it just didn’t happen,” she said.
“I thought that our defending team stood up extremely well for the most part but when England made those crucial changes and instruction was given, we didn’t rise to the instruction. So we are going back to the drawing board looking at where we have gone wrong and try to fix it.”
Considering the circumstances, Francis said she was proud of her team’s performance on Sunday.
“I am really proud of the girls and their effort,” she said. “They tried to stay with England for the most part but the continuous unforced errors, we just had to pay for them.”
Games two and three are to be played on December 4 and 5 at the Motor Point Arena.
Jamaica started well, outscoring their opponents 11-10 and 26-25 at the end of the first quarter and half-time, respectively. Jamaica’s lead was largely down to outstanding performances from Kadie-Ann Dehaney and Shamera Sterling, who caused England’s shooters significant challenges in the first half.
England’s defensive players turned the tables against Jamaica after the interval Eboni Usoro-Brown kept Jhaniele Fowler quiet and forced multiple changes in Jamaica's attack-end as the home side took control of the game to outscore Jamaica 16-9 in the third quarter and 14-10 in the fourth to pull off a commanding victory.
Fowler scored 40 of 41 attempts for the Sunshine Girls, who also got five goals from Shanice Beckford.
Jo Harten scored 30 of 39 and Eleanor Cardwell 20 of 22 for the Roses.
England had lost four of their last five games against Jamaica.
The second and third Tests will be played on December 4 and 5 at the Motor Point Arena
The Jamaicans started the competition in spectacular fashion with a big win over South Africa but experienced a set-back after a loss to the Silver Ferns. The Roses also defeated SPAR Proteas but were also defeated by New Zealand. The teams will now meet for a spot in the first-versus-second play-off match.
Thirlby expects to put the Jamaicans under pressure from the opening whistle in the winner take all showdown.
"We know what we need to do, we know we’re going to have to win the ball and pressure it early,” the coach told Sky Sports.
"It's going to be a tough one against Jamaica but I'm really looking forward to the fact that we have put ourselves in that position [winner-takes-all] on Saturday," she added.
"Coming into the tournament I said that, ideally, we want to get into these finals, and we have every opportunity to do so now. It's going to be tough with that height in the back, but South Africa pushed them the other day. Everyone was a bit critical of us against New Zealand, but you saw the margin between the Silver Ferns and Jamaica (26 goals) so I think it's game on.”
The Vitality Netball Legends Series is a new tournament, which has been named to represent the netball players who are making their mark on the international stage.
England Netball announced in November that it planned to host a four-match test series against Jamaica at the end of January 2021, which will be the first international competition on home soil in a year. The Sunshine Girls have also agreed to travel to the UK for a period of isolation before facing England.
Jamaica’s team was announced on Saturday with Jhaniele Fowler retaining the captaincy. Star defender Shamera Sterling has been named vice-captain of the squad for the very first time.
The full squad also includes Jodi-Ann Ward, Adean Thomas, Latanya Wilson, Kadie-Ann Dehaney Rebekah Robinson, Shanice Beckford, Shadian Hemmings, Nicole Dixon, Shannika Johnson, Stacian Facey, Malysha Kelly, Khadijah Williams and Gezelle Allison.
Paula-Ann Burton has been named as a training partner.
England coming off their dominating 66-47 victory over Jamaica on Saturday, seemed to play with lesser intensity as Jess Thirlby experimented with her line up starting Laura Malcolm at centre and later bringing Georgina Fisher into the attack.
Notwithstanding those changes, Jamaica played much better than in their two previous matches, successfully getting their passes into Fowler, who only missed three shots in the game. Shanice Beckford scored five of her eight attempts at goal.
For England, Fisher scored 21 of 24, Helen Housby 15 of 17 and Eleanor Cardwell 14 of 16 and were the primary scorers in the loss.
Jamaica led 14-11 at the end of the first quarter and extended the lead to 32-24 at half-time thanks in large part to the defensive work of Shamera Sterling, who was outstanding in disrupting England’s attack and was named MVP.
It was through her work alongside Kadie-Ann Dehaney that saw Jamaica extend their lead in the second quarter. England, however, would rally in the third quarter when they tied the Sunshine Girls’ 16-16 to keep the lead at eight going into the final quarter.
However, the visitors, desperate to take something away from the series, managed to regain their composure and held on for the confidence-boosting victory.
Jamaica started with Fowler, Shanice Beckford, Khadijah Williams, Adean Thomas, Latanya Wilson, Shamera Sterling and Kadie-Ann Dehaney. Thomas suffered what appeared to be an ankle injury early in the game and was helped off the court but later returned to help her team to the win.
However, according to Netball Jamaica, they are discussing with England Netball, the possibility of having the series in November 2021.
The series was to have got underway on January 22 and was to have been shown live on SkySports in the United Kingdom.
“We are hugely disappointed that the series cannot happen in January, but with the extended restrictions to international travel between the UK and Jamaica, it isn't possible for the fixture to go ahead as planned," the statement from England Netball said.
“We would like to thank the Jamaican national team and the Vitality Roses for their collective efforts to plan and prepare for the series to date, and their support in making this decision.”
Netball Jamaica President Tricia Robinson explained that it was a collective decision based on the extension of travel restrictions from Jamaica to the UK until the end of January 2021 brought about by the ongoing spikes in the UK and the emergence of the variant strain of the virus that makes it easier to spread.
“We are naturally disappointed as this is a second postponement,” Robinson said. “The players are going on a little break now and will resume training in February.”
Robinson said that talks are ongoing between the two federations with a view to having the series later this year, with November being proposed as an appropriate time to resume. This is in light of the fact that players from both teams have been signed by teams in the Suncorp Super Netball League that gets underway in Australia in March.
