England Roses Defeat Sunshine Girls to Take 1-0 Lead in Horizon Series

England’s Roses secured a 1-0 series lead against Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls on Sunday with a hard-fought 55-47 victory in Manchester during the second match of the Netball Horizon Series. The result followed a thrilling 49-49 tie in the series opener on Saturday.

The match showcased the contrasting styles of the two teams, with England capitalizing on crucial turnovers and maintaining composure under pressure, while Jamaica struggled to sustain their momentum in critical moments. England started strong, leading 12-8 at the end of the first quarter. However, Jamaica responded with intensity, applying pressure all over the court to edge ahead 23-21 late in the second quarter. England regained control before halftime, thanks to unforced errors by Jamaica, to tie the score 24-24 going into the break.

The third quarter proved pivotal, as England upped their defensive intensity. The Roses forced several turnovers during Jamaica’s attempts to find Romelda Aiken-George in the circle, creating opportunities to extend their lead. Despite a spirited rally by the Sunshine Girls to close within two goals late in the quarter, England held firm to enter the final quarter with a 39-35 advantage.

Turnovers continued to plague the Sunshine Girls in the final quarter, and though they fought valiantly to narrow the gap to 42-41 with 10 minutes to play, England’s relentless pressure proved decisive. The Roses forced critical errors that disrupted Jamaica’s rhythm, pulling away in the closing stages to secure a comfortable win.

Jamaica’s head coach, Sasher-Gaye Henry, reflected on her team’s struggles in the second half, particularly during the third quarter when England took command. “I think we struggled today in the latter part of the game in terms of getting our balls through the court and getting it on top of circle’s edge,” Henry said. “I think the movement was a little stagnant. It’s something we have to look at and correct quickly going into Game 3.”

Henry also highlighted the team’s focus on rotating players to assess different combinations. “It’s about building players, and we want to see rotation,” she explained. “I think we didn’t do a lot with rotation yesterday, so today we wanted to see where the players are at, to see what combination works. We are grateful for that opportunity.”

On the substitution of Shanice Dixon, who limped off and was replaced by Rhea Dixon, Henry noted, “We are looking for more options in our goal attack. Both are options, and we still have to rotate them. I think both did well tonight.”

The Sunshine Girls will look to regroup when the series shifts to Jamaica for the final two matches at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston on November 25 and December 2. With England leading the series, Jamaica will need to address their turnover issues and refine their attack if they hope to level the series and keep their hopes alive.

The Sunshine Girls, known for their resilience, will be determined to defend home court and prove their mettle against a confident England Roses team.

Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls rallied from six goals down at halftime to secure a dramatic 49-49 draw with England’s Roses in a nail-biting opening contest of their four-game Horizon Netball Series at the AO Arena in Manchester on Saturday.

Latanya Wilson, showcasing her versatility and tenacity at wing defence, earned the Player of the Game award for her outstanding performance, which included critical interceptions and relentless pressure on England’s attackers.

While proud of her team’s effort, Wilson, who represents Adelaide Thunderbirds in Australia’s Suncorp League, acknowledged that they had much work to do, especially with this being their first international outing since last year’s Netball World Cup.

“I think it was pretty much a close game; we knew that we were in it, and we came to win it, so I am proud of myself and the team’s effort to at least draw the game, so well done to us. So I am very pleased, but there is a lot more work to get done, and we are going to do things step-by-step, and we are going to give it our all,” Wilson said in a post-game interview.

Jamaica's Latanya Wilson tries to disrupt England's play.

The match began with both teams showing flashes of brilliance but also committing early turnovers. England’s match-fitness from their recent series win over New Zealand—to move to number two on the ranking chart—was evident as they displayed better composure and consistency for the most parts.

Still, the Jamaicans, who won bronze at last year’s Netball World Cup, did well to disrupt England’s fluency in patches but struggled to capitalize on opportunities as both teams ended the first quarter locked at 13-13.

Abigale Sutherland replaced Crystal Plummer at centre for Jamaica at the start of the second quarter, but an early turnover from their centre pass set the tone for a challenging period.

England, bolstered by sharp passing and disciplined shooting from Helen Housby, took charge of the contest in the second quarter as they outscored the Jamaicans 13-7.

The hosts were also aided by tidy defensive work from Imogen Allison and Funmi Fadoju, who were effective against the towering Romelda Aiken-George in the shooting circle for Jamaica.

In fact, England-born Rhea Dixon’s introduction at wing attack provided some creativity for Jamaica, but their inconsistency allowed England to maintain control for much of the quarter, and they opened up a six-goal lead, 26-20 at the interval.

Jamaica's Shamera Sterling-Humphrey and England's Olivia Tchine challenge for possession. (Photo: Skysports)

Jamaica came out spiritedly in the third quarter, forcing a few turnovers, but in the same push, returned possession by virtue of unforced errors. England capitalized and extended their lead to eight goals. 

However, the Sunshine Girls gradually found their rhythm and rallied to cut the deficit. By the five-minute mark, they trailed by just one goal, 33-32, but missed opportunities kept England in the driver’s seat, as the Roses again pulled away to lead 38-35 entering the final quarter.

Jamaica knew they needed a flawless fourth quarter to mount a comeback, and they responded with resilience. They leveled the score at 39-39 with over 11 minutes left and ignited a thrilling end-to-end battle.

The Sunshine Girls surged ahead 44-42 with less than eight minutes to play, but a sloppy centre pass allowed England to claw their way back.

A crucial offside turnover by Jamaica with less than three minutes remaining presented a chance to seal the game, but the opportunity went begging and England capitalized to go up 49-47 with less than a minute remaining.

Just when it seemed as England had the first win in the bag, up came Jamaica’s ever-reliable goalkeeper Shamera Sterling-Humphrey to snatch possession from Lois Pearson in the dying seconds.

Though Aiken-George missed her two attempts, goal attack Shanice Beckford showed steely nerves to secure the dramatic equalizer. 

Sunshine Girls head coach Sasher-Gaye Henry praised her team’s determination but stressed the need for improved consistency.

“We showed great heart today. I think the first time playing in 15 months is really a big thing for us as it starts our journey (to the next World Cup), so I am quite pleased with what we saw. We still have some rough edges to fix, but England gave us a fair contest; we knew they were going to come hard, and I am glad that our girls stood tall to the task,” Henry said.

With the series finely balanced, both teams will head into Sunday’s second game with renewed determination, eager to gain the upper hand ahead of the Jamaican leg scheduled for November 25 and 26. 

Sunday’s game is set for 9:00 am Jamaica time.

NB: The Horizon Netball Series can be seen live on SportsMax and the SportsMax app.

The Sunshine Girls staged their final training session Wednesday night at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston ahead of leaving the island on Friday for England for the first two of their four-match Horizon Series on November 16 and 17. 

Team coach Sasher-Gaye Henry and captain Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard were upbeat about their preparation and chances of doing well against England in the series.

“England is a good team and they have been going well. They are coming off about a eight game advantage compared to us so that’s something that is going to be good on their table so it’s good to just see how the girls will go in and give a good account of themselves. The preparation has been going fairly well for us. We have been looking specifically a lot in terms of our strength and conditioning, our court play in terms of our tactical play and we are super excited to see the growth and development especially of our younger players and there is still room for improvement knowing the fact that they are coming in now working with the senior girls. It’s not such a long time that we have had all of them together but the short time that we have them, I think they are improving daily” said coach Henry. 

She also said that the new players Teresa Beckford, Chrystal Plummer, Mischa Creary, Rhea Dixon (English based player), Simone Gordon, Zaudi Green and Kimone Shaw are all excited to showcase their talent and do well. 

Captain Fowler-Nembhard who joined the training squad for the past month talked about unity in the team and her own readiness for the series. “We are gelling together. The training sessions that we’ve had thus far have been really good and purposeful so yea it’s been good.” 

"I just think my game is going well. I had a pretty good year so far and I am going to just transfer that into this series” said Fowler-Nembhard. 

The other two matches in the series will be played in Jamaica on the 25^th and the 26^th of the month at the National indoor Sports Centre. 

Sunshine Girls captain Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard says vibes are good in the camp ahead of the team’s crucial four-match Test series against the England Roses this month.

The Girls will first take on the Roses in two games at the AO Arena in Manchester on November 16 and 17 before hosting them at the National Indoor Sports Centre on November 25 and 26.

“The vibe that’s coming from the camp is good,” the five-time Suncorp Super Netball Player of the Year told Sportsmax.tv at a recent training session.

“Everyone is eager and ready to go out there. There are some things that we are learning because some of us are definitely new to the team but I reckon that the vibe has been good and everyone, as I said, is eager and want to go up against England because they’ve been looking good,” she added.

A veteran of over 100 caps for the Sunshine Girls since her debut in 2010, Fowler-Nembhard is no stranger to the magnitude of the rivalry between the Sunshine Girls and the Roses.

In fact, the 35-year-old, when asked about a standout memory facing them, didn’t have just one, instead referencing every time the Sunshine Girls beat them, especially in England.

When asked why she believes the encounters between the two teams are always so competitive, Fowler-Nembhard kept it simple.

“I reckon the reason why it’s always a close game and close series is because there are such amazing players on both sides,” she said.

“We always want to come out on top of each other so it’s going to always be close and we always look forward to playing them,” she added.

The Sunshine Girls will be looking to bounce back from a 1-2 loss to the Roses last January in England and if they are to do that, there is no doubt that their superstar captain would have a massive part to play.

Sunshine Girls coach and former player Sasher-Gaye Henry says her team is looking forward to the challenge of taking on England in their upcoming four-match Test series.

Henry’s Sunshine Girls will be looking to rebound from a 1-2 series defeat at the hands of their opponents when they last squared off in England last January.

“It’s a big one for us and we’re looking forward to the ranking,” Henry told Sportsmax.tv last week.

We always want to beat England and they always want to beat us so we embrace this type of competition and look forward to it,” Henry added.

Both teams are currently separated in the Netball World Rankings by just two points. England are ranked number two in the world with 189 rating points while Jamaica are fourth with 187.

Henry, who won 75 caps for the Sunshine Girls between 1996 and 2015, was also asked about her best memories as a player against England.

Rather than giving just one memory, Henry noted how excited she was whenever she got to test her skills against the rivals.

“As a player, it was always about wanting to win, especially when it comes to playing England,” she said.

“We’re big rivals and it was always a competition between coming third and fourth so we were always in high spirits when we were playing England and the cycle continues,” Henry added.

Jamaica will first travel to England to take on the Vitality Roses on November 16 and 17 at the AO Arena in Manchester before hosting the Roses at the National Indoor Sports Centre on November 25 and 26.

Henry is pleased with her team’s preparation for the series thus far.

“I think the preparation has gone fairly well. One of our main focuses was on our fitness, mental preparation and tactical plays. What we’re looking is to see hos well the girls will put all of those into play and be ready for the competition,” she said.

England ran riot against Ireland with head coach John Mitchell revealing their pivot to an all-action attack is designed to fill Twickenham.

A crowd of 48,778 watched the Red Roses plunder 14 tries in an 88-10 victory that keeps them on course to win a sixth successive Guinness Women’s Six Nations title when they face France in a likely Grand Slam decider next weekend.

Unstoppable wing Abby Dow and player of the match Ellie Kildunne completed hat-tricks, but there were fireworks across the field as England delivered on their promise to put on a show.

Their ultimate aim is to run out at next year’s home World Cup in front of a sold-out Twickenham and Mitchell insisted that can only be achieved by captivating audiences with a style of play no longer based on forward dominance.

“The girls presented a performance that went up a gear. We asked that of them during the week and they certainly delivered it,” the Kiwi said.

“We’ve got a drive to fill the stadium on a consistent basis because we want to play here consistently.

“If we can continue to produce performances like that it won’t be too long before we do fill all the seats. From that point of view, it’s only that style of rugby that will bring people to watch us.

“We know we have other strengths as well, but this is a good sign and we’re only in the infancy of it.

“It’s a testament to the girls because they go out and own it and see the rewards from it.”

England have amassed 228 points after four rounds of the Six Nations, conceding only 20, and the lopsided scoreline at Twickenham is an ugly look for the competition.

“I’m sure some people will chat about the competitiveness, but at the end of the day we drive ourselves in the way we prepare and that’s all we can focus on,” Mitchell said.

“We’re not really in a position to judge the competition or its competitiveness. Our standards in the way we prepare have gone up a little bit in terms of level.”

Ireland head coach Scott Bemand admitted his side were left “shell-shocked” by the game’s dominant force.

“Tough day at the office. We came up against the market leaders but we’ll dust ourselves down and come back next week,” he said.

“This was a big game for a youthful group. Could we have predicted a margin like that? Probably not.”

England thrilled a bumper crowd at Twickenham by overwhelming Ireland 88-10 to set up a likely Grand Slam decider against France next weekend.

The Red Roses amassed 14 tries in front of 48,778 fans with the unstoppable Abby Dow and Ellie Kildunne completing hat-tricks, while Megan Jones and Jess Breach each crossed twice.

For all Dow’s finishing instincts, it was full-back Kildunne who shone brightest through a captivating display in attack, and her athleticism was a constant threat to Ireland.

It was an ugly final scoreline for the tournament but Ireland at least managed to touch down by forcing a penalty try.

Scrum-half Natasha Hunt promised England would “put on a show” and by securing the try-scoring bonus point inside the opening quarter, they duly delivered despite losing lock Rosie Galligan to a thumb injury during the warm-up.

Dow left a trail of green shirts on the ground to begin the onslaught and Hunt was the next to score after making a dynamic solo break.

The tone had been set and what followed was a procession with Kildunne at the vanguard, the Harlequin’s electric running sweeping her into open space time and again.

A cheeky dummy kick launched one gliding charge out of defence and Ireland were having to scramble furiously to contain a player who has the ambition of becoming the best in the world.

When she crossed on the half-hour mark it was a simple finish to a move started by England’s line-out maul as the home pack asserted itself up front.

Hooker Lark Atkin-Davies was helped off with an injury but the rout continued when sharp handling and a vast gap in the Ireland midfield invited Dow over for her second.

The Irish ran out of defenders as Breach switched on the afterburners to race over, and just eight minutes into the second half England surpassed 50 points for the first time in this Six Nations when Sadia Kabeya powered over.

Ireland were outclassed but showed plenty of fight against the game’s dominant force and their determination paid off when they were awarded a penalty try for seeing a driving maul thwarted illegally.

Lucy Packer was sent to the sin-bin as a result, but England still scored next when Jones weaved a path through the opposition midfield.

Emily Scarratt received a loud cheer when she replaced Tatyana Heard and Dow ran in her third, ushering in a traumatic final quarter for Ireland who were swamped by better conditioned opponents.

John Mitchell has instructed England to continue playing on the edge despite the disciplinary issues that have marred their Guinness Women’s Six Nations.

The Red Roses have been shown two red cards in three matches, with number eight Sarah Beckett dismissed in the opener against Italy and hooker Amy Cokayne sent off against Scotland.

Both opponents were crushed despite England being reduced to 14 players as they continue their march to a sixth successive Championship title with the visit of Ireland to Twickenham on Saturday.

While Mitchell wants technique to be refined where needed, he views his team’s physicality as an important weapon.

“I want us to continue to play on the edge, but I also want us to be aware around how we need to change our behaviour,” the Red Roses head coach said.

“In Amy’s incident, she needs to get her head under the ball. Obviously that’s something you put the ownership on the individual to change.

“We probably let the pressure off on Scotland. There were a number of times when we had the foot on their throats. We’d rather that turn into attack for us.

“There’s some good things we’ve learned from it, but we’re certainly not going to go away from being on the edge. It’s what drives us. It’s what the game’s all about and we want to defence into points.”

Beckett received a three-match ban for a dangerous clearout while Cokayne’s two yellow cards for a dangerous clearout and dangerous tackle resulted in a one-game suspension.

Both players will be available for the probable Grand Slam decider against France on Saturday week.

England had rehearsed for the eventuality of losing their number eight and hooker in the build up to each game after defence coach Sarah Hunter had presented them as scenarios in training.

“We’ve told Sarah Hunter not to give us any more scenarios!” captain Marlie Packer joked.

“So she might have said at the beginning of the Six Nations ‘eight go off the pitch’. That might have happened.

“And then last week ‘hooker you’ve got a card, go off’. And that might have happened in a game. So we’ve kind of told Sarah not to do that any more!”

Almost 50,000 are expected at Twickenham on Saturday and in anticipation of the atmosphere, England have adapted training at their Surrey base.

“Early on in the week, when we do more low-key training in the barn inside, we can put crowd noise in. I personally loved it,” he said.

“It paints a different picture for us. It’s been a new thing that we’ve brought in this week which has raised our game. Hopefully we can put it out on the pitch on Saturday.”

Packer has been restored at openside for the visit of Ireland, forcing Zoe Aldcroft to move from back row to lock, while Lark Atkin-Davies replaces the suspended Cokayne at hooker.

Jhaniele Fowler scored 57 goals as Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls defeated England’s Roses 63-53 for a consolation victory in the England Roses Vitality Series that concluded on Sunday.

Sunshine Girls Head Coach Connie Francis is considering making changes to the team’s mid-court ahead of the second Test between Jamaica and England on December 4.

 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.

England’s Roses took a 1-0 lead in their three-Test series against Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls after they rallied to win 55-45 before a packed Copper Box Arena in London on Sunday.

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 four-Test Vitality Netball Legends Series between the Sunshine Girls and England Roses has been postponed because of extended restrictions to international travel between the UK and Jamaica because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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.