Despite that, Head Coach Dorette Badenhorst says lessons learnt from their opening losses to England on Saturday (71 – 47) and world number one ranked Australia on Sunday (60 – 40), will prepare her team for their Tuesday clash with world champions New Zealand.

On Sunday the Proteas, who are ranked fifth in the latest World Netball rankings, took on Quad Series favourites Australian Diamonds. The two sides had locked horns forty times and South Africa are yet to win against the Aussies.

Badenhorst made a few changes to the team that started against England on Saturday. During her post match interview against England, the coach did admit that her team did not play well and promised a better display on her second game.

The Proteas were the first team to get off the starting blocks and drew first blood and took the game to Australia. The combination of Rademan and Venter in attack seemed to have been yielding the desired effect as the pair made sure to convert all their chances. The short passing game of the Proteas worked well in their favour as they kept the lead for a good thirteen minutes and only lost the quarter at the end with 14 – 12.

In the second quarter, Badenhorst brought on Tshina Mdau on Wing Defence and moved Monique Reyneke to Goal Defence in the place of Vimbela. The Proteas changed their game plan a bit playing long passes which was not really working for them, they quickly went back to their original short passes game. Mdau was very clinical in the middle of the court making some crucial intercepts. The second quarter went to Australia who won it 27 - 23.

Based on how South Africa performed in the first two quarters, you could tell that Badenhorst had a tough talk with them going into this game. The start of the championship quarter saw both teams making a few changes to their teams. Vimbela made a return at the back to partner with Maweni and Khanyisa Chawane replaced Mdau at Wing Defence.

Australian Diamonds ran with the game in the third quarter and made sure that they cement their lead. Nicola Smith took to court at goal defence to replace Vimbela. The Aussies took the quarter 45 – 32 and extended their lead by thirteen points.

A few tactical and positional changes in the last quarter saw SPAR Proteas captain make way for Mdau. Izette Griesel moved to the centre role which was previously occupied by Msomi. Australia proved to be tactically stronger than their counterparts and dominated the remainder of the match.

A few more changes from Badenhorst saw Jessica du Plessis taking to court on behalf of Lefebre Rademan at Goal Attack. It was not meant to be for South Africa who played better but just did not win the match. Australia won the match 60 – 40 at the end of it all.

“On Sunday we played better than we did against England on the opening day. The players played for each other and trusted each other better than they did yesterday. We had a game plan and what I saw today was the team carrying it out. The players that were called up to play really stepped up and I am happy with our performance. It has been particularly important for us to play against some of the best in the world so that we get ready for Commonwealth Games mid-year,” said Badenhorst.

On Tuesday South Africa will take on New Zealand Sliver Ferns at 19h15 in the final round robin group stage of the tournament.