New Zealand beat South Africa 51 – 50 to finish third in the four nations tournament.

The Proteas and Silver Ferns met for the second time in twenty-four hours and this time around it was for the bronze medal. South Africa finished the stronger side of the two yesterday and today they started as they ended.

It was the Proteas that took an early lead in the game, they led the quarter for the most part and from there it was pound for pound right until the last second when New Zealand finished the quarter 14 -13. Monique Reyneke limped off the court and was replaced by Khanyisa Chawane.

Simone Rabie came in at Goal Defence for Nicola Smith and this was her first in this tournament. The Proteas were more clinical today and played with a lot of confidence and took the game to New Zealand, they fought harder today and ended the quarter trailing by three points. Nicola Smith made a return into the game towards the end of the quarter. Quarter ended 25 - 28 in favour of Silver Ferns.

Championship quarter started like a house on fire, and it was the wounded Proteas that were going for everything on offer. South Africa’s mid-court players really played their hearts out and left everything on court, Venter remained impressive in attack and continued to roll on retaining a 100 percent shooting rate during the match. South Africa won the quarter by a solitary goal with the score being 39 - 38 to the Proteas.

A great end to the third quarter saw South Africa growing in confidence and this was evident in how they played, especially at the start of the last quarter. The Silver Ferns claimed the lead, however, South Africa kept coming back and reduced the lead to a point. New Zealand slowed the game down to claim a bronze medal ending the match 51 -50.

“Excellent game from both teams. I am immensely proud of the SPAR Proteas, and I believe today we played better. The team play way better today and pushed New Zealand – we came here with a young team and tried new combinations. Our errors were minimised to five per quarter compared to the thirty we started with at the beginning of the tournament,” said the Proteas head coach, Dorette Badenhorst.