Proteas coach Norma Plummer won't guarantee World Cup podium

The 16-team tournament will take place at the CT International Convention Centre from 28 July to 8 August next year, with the Proteas in Group C alongside Jamaica, Wales, and Sri Lanka.

But Plummer, who took over the reigns from Dorette Badenhorst last month, refused to commit to achieving a podium finish, insisting she has not been given a mandate by Netball South Africa.

"We just need to finalise a few issues. The game we only lost by two goals, which meant we would have played out for the gold medal, I don't have a four-year build-up – I have about eight months, and I've got to fit in what I can there," she argued.

"But these players are very resilient, they learn fast and we'll have a very good team out of it. So, a big ask on medals – I think if you go in thinking you've got to win a medal, you're more likely to freeze up; if we go in with the expectation we're just going to go out there and give our best in every game then the results might look after themselves."

Plummer was initially appointed as a mentor to Badenhorst for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in July, but things quickly changed a few weeks ago as Netball SA gave the 78-year-old a callback.

"I didn't expect to be back in this chair, I got the phone call some weeks after Comm Games, [asking] about would I come back, that they felt they needed maybe the discipline [to be] pulled back together," she explained.

"So, I did ponder about it as I'm not getting any younger, but I guess the love of the game drew me back, and also the love of the players here – they work so hard, they really want it and they're a delight to coach.

"And, yes, at this stage I will be coming back in probably about every second month to do a couple of weeks and then back home, so I'm not going to be residing here full-time, it'll be in and out like previous."

By Charles Baloyi