Error strewn SPAR Proteas made to pay

October 8, 2025 41

SPAR Proteas head coach, Jenny van Dyk, is not making any excuses after her side’s heavy 67–40 defeat to world champions Australia in the second match of their three-Test series in Wollongong.

The Proteas made costly errors which the world champions capitalised on and made them pay dearly, and with that clinched the series with a game to spare with the final match scheduled for Sunday morning in Adelaide.

South Africa, who’ve never beaten Australia before, came into the second game of the three-match series with the understanding that they needed to win in order to level the series ahead of the final match and to keep their series hopes alive. Van Dyk made several changes to her starting line up with the likes of Refiloe Nketsa, Nichole Breedt and Sanmarie getting starts.

South Africa were trailing 18-11 after the first quarter which was just a marker to show how the rest of the contest would go.

In the second quarter, the Aussie Diamonds continued where they left off at the end of the first quarter – putting the visitors under enormous pressure and forcing them into errors. Australia continued piling the goals on the other end and took the quarter 14 – 11 and had an overall lead of 32 -22 at halftime.

At the end of the 60 minutes, it was the Diamonds that took the match 67 – 40 to clinch the series.

“I am really disappointed with our game today, no excuses will be made if anything, full accountability is what is needed. The work that we have put in as a team over the past couple of weeks doesn’t justify the performance that we showed today, everyone will be disappointed. There will always be ups and downs, if you’re going to be played No 1 and two in the world, then you need to brace yourself because they are definitely not waiting for South Africa to catch up and allowing us to just take what they have worked hard for over the years.” said a visibly frustrated van Dyk after the game.

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The fight continues, the belief remains. 💚💛#SPARProteas #WeAreAllIn

📸 Lauren Morgan | Netball Australia pic.twitter.com/h4d4mYoEVl

— Netball South Africa (@Netball_SA) October 8, 2025