Francis, Sunshine Girls ready to travel long road to history

In pursuit of their first-ever Netball World Cup title, national senior netball head coach Connie Francis is embracing taking the hard road to glory, not backing down from any adversity that comes their way.

The Sunshine Girls will resume their campaign against Caribbean rivals Trinidad and Tobago today at 9 a.m in Cape Town, South Africa, hoping to move one step closer to the semi-finals. Jamaica got their fourth straight win of the tournament on Monday, a 61-49 triumph over Uganda with captain Jhaniele Fowler warning the team on having a better start if they want to reach their gold medal target.

For Francis, what she is proud of so far is the way that the team has accepted playing different roles and having an attitude of perseverance as the tournament moves towards the end phase.

"The girls are accepting all the roles and all the different styles that we have to go against in order to win because we know it won't be easy. And we don't want it any other way. We want to win this gold medal knowing that it is our toughest effort behind it," Francis said "So after Uganda, Trinidad and Tobago and New Zealand, that is what we are aiming for, one day at a time. We are not going to go over our heads and think that it will be easy."

After the Girls defeated host nation South Africa on Sunday, Francis said that they have evolved from four years ago when it was the Proteas that defeated them in the last tournament where they finished fifth overall.

"When I was thinking back, everybody was reflecting on 2019 and it was something different that happened. This is not 2019. I believe in these girls because we played South Africa three times since I have been in charge. We were very confident that we could have beaten them here in the motherland," Francis said.

Jamaica will play reigning champions New Zealand tomorrow at 4 a.m. with a win securing their place in the semi-finals. Compared to the Commonwealth Games where she had nerves throughout the tournament, Francis says there are fewer nerves this time around because of the quality that she knows she has.

"And I am not overly confident. It is just that I have the confidence in this group of players who come in with years of experience and have not had a medal at this level (for years) and are just as hungry to go and get it," Francis said.