England Netball | England U17s secure victory at Netball Europe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArIi7OmHqzwThe England U17s completed an amazing clean sweep of wins during the Netball Europe Championship to retain their crown and lift the trophy.

The event, which was held at the University of Huddersfield, featured Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Emirates who secured their inclusion as a result of winning the 2018 Netball Europe Challenge.

First up for the England squad was Wales on Friday evening. A potentially tricky first clash for the young Roses but they were rid of any nerves soon after the first centre pass.

A good 15 minutes meant they had already found a six point gap by the first buzzer [12-6] and after developing their rhythm in the second quarter they started to pull further away, by half time it was 13-31.

They kept their resolve throughout and the game finished 72-26.

Captain, Funmi Fadoju showed how happy she was with the result after the game: “We were expecting to go out there and do our best, when we came out we played our hardest and at the end we’re proud of the score.”

Saturday brought with it two games and first up was Northern Ireland, with Emirates following in the evening.

The first game finished 89-12 and vice captain, Ella Bowen was delighted with her side’s victory: “I’m very, very pleased with the performance today. I think the goal difference between the two teams was one of the big things.

“I think we stuck to task, we kept them up high in defence and had strong drives in attack.”

Against the Emirates it was much of the same and Fadoju was again full of praise for her squad: “Amazing, we all came onto court and played our absolute best.

“All combinations came on and we know that no matter what happens we’re going to play like we always have and aim to get all our targets.

“At first we thought we were going to be very tired but we were motivated and dedicated to play the absolute best. We pushed through our tiredness and fatigue and we told ourselves that no matter what, we’re going to push through to the end of the game.”

The final game of the weekend for our young Roses was against Scotland and their tenacious approach didn’t let off, again winning the game by an impressive margin, 81-16.

It was unsurprising that the squads captain, Fadoju be awarded with the Player of the Championship with her brilliant display throughout the weekend.

Squad

Bella Baylis (Mavericks), Rosie Bartlett (Bath), Ella Bowen (VC) (Manchester Thunder), Olufunmilayo Fadoju (C) (London Pulse), Ellie Harding (Surrey Storm), Molly Hole (Bath), Berri Neil (Manchester Thunder), Emma Rayner (Manchester Thunder), Grace Rimmer (Manchester Thunder), Yasmin Roebuck (Manchester Thunder), Stacey Tankoua (Manchester Thunder) and Emma Thacker (Surrey Storm)

The squad was led by Head Coach Victoria Burgess and Assistant Coach Sheonah Forbes.