Blantyre, Malawi – The Proteas eased into the semi-finals of the African Netball Championships when they outplayed Swaziland by 73-28 goals in their match on Wednesday.

Unaffected by the harsh African conditions of playing outdoors in the midday sun, the Proteas showed their strength against their physical opponents. “We had a good game” said coach Elize Kotze after the match, “We had to keep motivated due to our strong lead, but we kept the focus and are setting our combinations for the final.”

Asset Vanes-Mari du Toit had a brilliant game, and her height which outmatches any of the other players was a huge advantage; “Vanes-Mari had a fantastic game on goalkeeper. The Swaziland team was extremely physical in their goal circle, and they have some tall players, but they can’t match Vanes.” Despite the turnaround of players in each of the quarters, Swaziland was no competition for the girls in green and gold.

South Africa will take on Uganda in tomorrow’s game at 16h00. Aware that this is an incredibly physical team, the Proteas will be relying on their speed; “Defence is always tough against African countries because it is difficult to read the play” said assistant coach Lana Krige. “But we play a faster game, which helps with possession of the ball. We don’t need to play such a physical game when we have speed on our side.”

The semi-finals will be played on Friday at 11h00 against pool 1’s runner up, followed by the finals against Malawi at 14h00.