The Proteas faced the likes of Wales, Scotland and Ireland as well as provincial club, Northern Ireland Warriors.
The SPAR Proteas during half-time in their match against Scottish Thistles on 22 October 2021. Picture: @Netball_SA/Twitter.
JOHANNESBURG – Over the weekend, the SPAR Proteas wrapped up their UK tour with a convincing 60-38 victory over Wales, making it a clean sweep overseas. The South African women’s netball team were dominant as they won all five games on their first tour outside the country since January 2020.
The Proteas faced the likes of Wales, Scotland and Ireland as well as provincial club, Northern Ireland Warriors. This tour came as a replacement for the Margaret Beckford Sunshine Series, which was called off due to COVID-19 restrictions.
There were a number of standout players in that last game against the Welsh team and coach Dorette Badenhorst shared her thoughts: “They [Wales] were tough competitors against us. I think my goal circle on the defence did well, the combination of Phumza [Maweni] and Monique [Reyneke] and the pressure the whole team put on Wales gave us the opportunities to turn balls. We combined well on the attacking side as well with different combinations that I tried and I think we stayed clinical throughout.”
Badenhorst took a group of 15 players, of which four headed into the series uncapped.
“With every game, it was very important to look at different combinations, to see the new players coming on and make a difference. I think for a coach, that is maybe a good headache to have, to see that there is a lot of players that can come on the court and make a difference. We saw a lot of improvement from the first time we got some of these players and I’m really excited about the players coming through. I think there’s good stuff happening on and off court.”
Ahead of this series, the national coach said they needed as much game time in preparation for the Commonwealth Games next year and she was happy with their opponents.
“This is a different level of play; it’s playing against teams that are actually playing together a lot in the UK national league. You can see that there’s players in combinations that play together often and I think the more we can play together, the better we’ll become.”
ALL RESULTS:
South Africa 6 – 38 Wales
South Africa 125 – 43 Northern Ireland Warriors
South Africa 60 – 37 Scotland Thistles
South Africa 96 – 8 Netball Ireland
South Africa 101 – 7 Netball Ireland
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