Sunshine Girls outclassed by New Zealand

Jamaica were beaten 71-45 by world champions New Zealand in their second match of their Vitality Netball Nations Cup in Birmingham, England today.

The victory was the Silver Ferns' first over the Sunshine Girls in their last four attempts. The Sunshine Girls, who won their opening match against South Africa, started the game shakily as they trailed the New Zealanders 18-11 at the end of the first quarter, and 32-22 at half time.

The Jamaicans, who are ranked fourth in the world, two places below New Zealand, committed 14 turnovers in the first half as they were outplayed by their opponents in every department.

New Zealand, who are now into the final of the competition, dominated the third quarter of the match, as they outscored the Jamaicans 19-9 for an easy 51-31 at the end of the stanza.

Head coach Connie Francis made several changes to the Sunshine Girls at the start of the fourth quarter, but despite this, the New Zealanders still managed to maintain their dominance to take home a comfortable victory.

Francis said the team was too error prone on the day.

"We knew their style and we knew that they are very tough, but I thought that we didn't handle the pressure well," Francis said. I though that we made some silly unforced errors, hence the score went away from us."

Captain Jhaniele Fowler led the way for the Sunshine Girls with 41 goals. The Sunshine Girls will face rivals England in their next game on Saturday.