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South Africa produce fireworks against New Zealand

netball02 August 2023 18:26| © MWP
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Spurred on by Banyana Banyana beating Italy to advance to the round of 16 in the Soccer World Cup, South Africa nearly caused the biggest upset at the Netball World Cup 2023 on Wednesday when they drew 48-all against world champions New Zealand in a Pool G match at a packed CTICC in Cape Town.

As things stand, for South Africa to have any chance to advance to the semifinal in Cape Town, Jamaica need to beat New Zealand on Thursday while the Proteas need to navigate their way past Uganda.

South Africa got proceedings under way and got the ball to the circle where Ine-Marie Venter missed her first attempt, but landed it on the second go.

A mistake by captain Bongi Msomi was picked up by the New Zealand defenders and the Silver Ferns turned it into a two-goal lead after four minutes.

Protea goal attack Nichole Taljaard occupied the space in the goal circle well and her ability to shoot from further away was a distinct advantage.

She also remained calm under the massive pressure of facing the reigning world champions.

In the final minutes before the end of the first quarter South Africa put up a massive defensive effort to come back from a four-goal deficit to go into the break only one down (10-11), in what must have been one of the lowest scores in the first 15 minutes of any match at the World Cup.

TALJAARD ON SONG

A worrying factor for South Africa though was that Venter wasn’t her usual accurate self, missing four of her 11 attempts in the first 20 minutes of the match.

Taljaard, however, was on song, her experience in Fast Five in shooting from far out playing a crucial role. After the match she indicated that she had been working on this specific aspect of her play.

With deafening shouts of “defence, defence” by the South African spectators in the stands, Silver Ferns coach Noeline Taurua started ringing the changes with the game a tightly contested affair.

Jane Watson came on in the place of Kelly Jury on goalkeeper in an attempt to stop the ball from moving into the South African goal circle.

South African-born Karin Burger was moved from wing attack to goal defence to cover Taljaard. For South Africa, Elmeré van der Bergh replaced Venter under the pole.

A couple of questionable umpire calls edged New Zealand 26-21 ahead at halftime.

Khanyisa Chawane took over from Msomi on centre at the start of the third quarter, a period of play where South Africa traditionally lost games they should’ve won.

In the game against Jamaica, the Proteas only scored three points in the third quarter, and then outscored the Sunshine Girls 20-15 in the last 15 minutes of the match.

BRILLIANT STEALS

South Africa were their own worst enemies at times, throwing away hard-won balls with silly mistakes. Instead of slowing down the game and frustrating the Silver Ferns, the Proteas tried to keep up and play at the same pace.

Just before the end of the third quarter, Chawane went off with what appeared to be an eye injury. Griesel moved to centre with Msomi on wing attack.

South Africa produced an outstanding performance in the third quarter, winning it 13-12 to only be four goals adrift and keeping their hopes alive of recording only their second victory ever over New Zealand.

The final 15 minutes of the thrilling match saw the Proteas throw everything at the Silver Ferns.

Defenders Phumza Maweni and Karla Pretorius made a handful of brilliant steals on the one end while Van der Berg and Taljaard kept the scoreboard ticking on the other.

Nicola Smith then joined the fray and caused even more disruption.

With four minutes left on the clock, South Africa needed three goals to create history and the atmosphere at the CTICC reached fever pitch.

The Proteas road the wave of overwhelming support and with three seconds left, Taljaard safely landed in what was probably the most important goal of her test career so far, the final score 48-all.

Most Valuable Player: Nichole Taljaard (South Africa)

Goal Shooting Percentage: South Africa 78.7 per cent / New Zealand 90.6 per cent

Penalty Count (Contact and Obstruction): South Africa 68 / New Zealand 48

Quarter scores: 11-20 / 26-21 / 38-34 / 48-48

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