Lapses almost prove costly in S'pore win

As tougher tests await them later this week at the Mirxes Nations Cup, Singapore's netball team received a timely reminder about the importance of consistency in a 6252 victory over Ireland on Sept 2.

- Kimberly Kwek

At the OCBC Arena, world No. 25 Singapore started the game well, taking a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter before extending it to 36-18 at the interval.

But 22nd-ranked Ireland fought back in the second half, outscoring the hosts 16-15 and 18-11 in the remaining two quarters to narrow the deficit to just 10 goals.

National coach Annette Bishop said: "We had a great start, there was a thing about coming out and starting hard because Ireland has always been one of those teams that would stick with us. All credit to Ireland, they came back to us.

"We rang a few changes, we didn't adjust to what Ireland was putting out there so we need to ensure we adjust a lot quicker."

While Singapore co-captain Toh Kai Wei felt that the team had a better start to the match, compared to their opening 78-20 win over unranked Canada the day before, she felt that one area for improvement was keeping their focus throughout the four quarters.