Johannesburg – Netball Proteas suffered a big loss in the opening Quad Series, after falling in a crushing 71-47 defeat to hosts England on Saturday.
This was their opening match of the five-day campaign on Saturday and they were ultimately outplayed.
The South African women held on and trailed their opponents by just two points after the first quarter (14-12) and four points (27-23) at half-time, as they went in search of their first ever victory over the Diamonds.
Proteas head coach, Dorette Badenhorst’ charges went into this game as the team that has had more games than that of England however it was the experience of the Roses that dominated the match.
It was England that drew first blood and got off the mark very quickly.
They piled the pressure for eight minutes of the game, enjoyed a nine-point lead at some point however the SPAR Proteas fought their way back and reduced their deficit to three points and the first quarter ended sixteen -13 to England.
The start of the second quarter was no different for Vitality Roses, as they continued putting pressure on Proteas both at defence and attack.
The Vitality made a few changes in the third quarter and the SPAR Proteas kept the team as it was in the second quarter.
Roses went into the last quarter with a comfortable seventeen-point lead, ending the quarter 53 -36.
Badenhorst made a few positional changes in the last quarter with the introduction of Simone Rabie in defence, Tshina Mdau in midcourt and Sigrid Burger in the attack.
It was the English that upped the tempo and piled the pressure on the SPAR Proteas.
Unfortunately, Rabie could not last long in the game as she limbed off and this saw Maweni coming back in defence for South Africa. England broke yet another record by reaching the 71-goal mark in the Quad series, their highest score was sixty-four points.
“Well done to England on a great win and brilliant netball, I think on our end we made too many mistakes, we need to keep our own possession and do better next time. We need to go back to the basics and do better.
I can promise you a better game tomorrow. We had a few players that have not played at this level, and it was good to see them take to court and play as well as they did,” said Badenhorst post the match.
The two were meeting for the 64th time, and England has bagged 48 wins against fifteen of South Africa.
In the last three meetings between the Proteas and Vitality Roses, England has won twice and lost once.
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