The deciding test in England and South Africa’s three-match series ended in a 65-50 defeat for the Vitality Roses, resulting in a 2-1 series win for the South African Proteas.
The Vitality Roses took the series to a decider with a win yesterday, but it was South Africa who came out victorious after a 15-goal win today.
Vitality Roses captain and Defender of the Series Fran Williams said: “We’re really disappointed with how we showed up today. We weren’t good enough right from the start of the game. Credit to the Proteas, they were better than us today in defence and attack and we’re going to have to go away and really look at how we showed up on the second day.”
Head Coach Jess Thirlby reflected: “In the first half they [South Africa] grew in confidence in their attacking unit and were able to find Elmeré [van der Berg] relatively easily in the back space. There were a few loose balls, a few opportunities that maybe we could’ve built a little bit more of a foothold from earlier on, but we didn’t look ourselves. On the driving ball, they got great depth on us and then isolated us a little bit inside the circle and that’s credit to them because they broke our structures and broke our connection early.
“It’s a hard one and it hurts but I also respect and give credit to the standard of the performance from the Proteas today.”
The two sides will next meet this summer at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, where they will play each other in the pool stages of the competition.
With thanks to England Netball
