Hell hath no fury like Norway’s women scorned

Norway bounced back in emphatic style on Sunday afternoon, dispatching Denmark 27:18 to claim their first points of their Olympic campaign.

We knew Norway would play with a touch of anger today, humbled by Sweden on Thursday night, they had almost three days to stew in the irritation and you could wonder which of two things would happen – a disjointed performance or a masterclass.

Norway didn’t leave us wondering for long. They were ruthless in the opening 18 minutes, with Stine Oftedal and Veronika Kristiansen tearing chunks out of the Danish defence and Silje Solberg making the opposition attack look toothless.

Denmark would have expected this approach but could do little to stop it. The introduction of Sandra Toft in goal helped to stop the haemorrhaging of goals and in turn, the rest of the team grew in confidence as they attempted an exercise in damage limitation.

Job done

Norway took a 14:8 lead with them into the half-time break and by then the fury had dissipated, replaced by confidence and a professional approach, knowing that they could get the job done now without producing more magic.

They kept Denmark at arm’s length throughout the second period, though they were not without their fortune as the Danes let their fair share of clean-cut chances go to waste. Just to add salt to the wound, Norway threw Katrine Lunde in goal for the final quarter, where she made a ludicrous seven saves from eight shots faced.

This result will do Norway’s self-confidence the world of good, achieving the result and performance without Henny Reistad, whose absence may extend longer than is being let on.

It also goes to show what a difference a couple of days can make at the early stages of this Olympic tournament.