After beating the Japanese national side in a match in France earlier in the week, GB travelled to Wittlich in Germany to take part in the prestigious Stelioplast Cup which featured some of the world’s top sides including Champions League winners Larvik and Bayer Leverkusen.
Despite not having a full-strength squad due to club commitments, GB played well and grabbed a fantastic opportunity for the team to play against some of the very best players on the world stage and to continue to gain invaluable match experience as preparation for the Olympics.
Head Coach Jesper Holmris was slightly disappointed with the squad’s performance against Bayer Leverkusen where they lost by 11, but the team responded well against Larvik, eventually going down 21-10 but competing well in the first half against a team filled with Olympic gold medal winners.
The two losses meant a match against Bundesliga team Trier, and the team were determined to end the tournament with a win.
This duly came despite being behind for 58 of the 60 minutes. Zoe Van Der Weel scored the winner with a minute remaining to take the match 26-25.
Bury’s Kathryn Fudge (pictured) was in fine form and scored five - a feat matched by Holly Lam-Moores. And Jane Mayes - in goal for the absent Hargreaves - had a fine second half with over 50 per cent save rate to keep the Trier attack at bay.
“This has been a great preparation for the start of the season, giving our players the chance to play against the best players in the world,” said Holmris. “We have had some brilliant team and individual performances but we still need more consistency to put a string of top performances back to back.”
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