Another big loss for gutsy Proteas in Netball Quad Series

While they launched a brave effort in the first half, taking the battle to giants Australia, the Proteas were handed their second defeat of the Quad Series netball tournament in London on Sunday.

After falling in a crushing 71-47 defeat to hosts England in their opening match of the five-day campaign on Saturday, South Africa put up a stronger fight against Australia, but they were ultimately outplayed.

Working hard from the start, the Proteas held on and trailed their opponens 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.

Australia, however, showed why they are ranked first in the world, taking control of the match in the third quarter as they scored 18 points to SA’s nine. And the Diamonds ran away with it in the last 15 minutes, eventually racking up a dominant 60-40 final score.

“We’ve had brilliant moments but we need to be consistent for the whole game,” said Proteas coach Dorette Badenhorst.

“I don’t think my players have done badly. They’ve really tried hard and played their hearts out.

“But there are certain things we need to work on – we need to keep possession and keep our own centre passes – to make things a little bit easier for ourselves.”

South Africa will face world champions New Zealand on Monday night in their last match before the Quad Series playoffs.