15 Aug 2015

Sport: Fiji and Samoa netballers to resume rivalry

10:08 am on 15 August 2015

Fiji and Samoa will renew rivalries at the Netball World Cup today, as the Pacific teams square off for a place in the ninth and tenth playoff.

Fiji players thank fans at the Netball World Cup in Sydney.

Fiji players thank fans at the Netball World Cup in Sydney. Photo: Netball World Cup 2015 SYDNEY

The Fiji Pearls are on a four-match winning streak while Samoa won two games before a heavy loss to Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday.

The teams have already met twice this year, with Fiji prevailing during January's Oceania Series and at the Pacific Games in PNG last month.

Coach Kate Carpenter says there aren't many secrets between the two teams.

"We watched the match between Trinidad and Tobago and Samoa and Samoa I think are a very different team since the Pacific Games so it's going to be very very tough, and also because we know each other well, so there will be some interesting match-ups. the matches, compared to the top eight, they're really tight and you go into them not knowing who's going to be successful. That's really good I think in terms of our mental strength, our development of being able to play really consistent netball and understanding that error-rate can lose you a game so that's one of the things we're working on and hoping to improve on."

The winner will play either Scotland or Trinidad and Tobago in the ninth place playoff.