The stakes could not be higher this coming weekend, as the European Qualifiers will be determined for next years World Cup. We take a look at all of the competing sides, staring with the Scottish Thistles.
Scotland will have home advantage when they welcome Wales and Northern Ireland to Perth. The Thistles are currently ranked 11th in the INF World Rankings having moved up one space in the last update (matches based up to November 29).
The last time the Thistles were out on court was during a two match series win against Samoa last December. In that series the Thistles secured a 56-39 and a 63-36 victory over the Samoans.
The only change in the Scottish squad from their matches in December is that Fiona Themann comes in for Kelly Boyle. Claire Brownie captains the side.
The Squad
Friday night will see the Thistles play Wales in the opening match of the weekend. The last time these two sides met was in the Netball Europe Open back in October in which the Thistles were victorious 58-49.
That competition also saw Scotland play Northern Ireland in a very close match. On that occasion it was Northern Ireland who edged the victory by a single goal margin (45-46). They will both play on Sunday.
Scotland were present at the very first World Netball Championships that took place in Eastbourne in 1963. The last time they failed to qualify for the tournament was in 2011. Captain Claire Brownie has been through the motions during her Thistles career thus far. She was part of that squad who didn’t make the 2011 competition in Singapore and also a member of the squad who qualified for the last World Cup in Sydney.
Only two out of the three sides will qualify for the World Cup next year in Liverpool.
January 19th (7:30pm) |  | 52 | 40 |  |
January 20th (3pm) |  | 57 | 42 | |
January 21st (12pm) | | 52 | 31 | |
Get the latest from the Thistles camp by following them on Twitter here and liking them on Facebook here.
All matches from the European Qualifiers will be live streamed for all across all INF and Netball Europe social media platforms.
