A last second Nichole Taljaard goal saw South Africa play to a 48-48 draw against the defending champions.

The Silver Ferns led the match throughout, but a late surge by South Africa forced a thrilling draw.

The young and inexperienced Elmeré van den Berg of Bloemfontein who plays out of Potchefstroom was simply outstanding in the latter stages of the game, but it was once against Taljaard who was named as the player of the match.

The draw meant that South Africa will need to beat Uganda today to stand a chance of advancing to the semi-finals, and they will be hoping that the Sunshine Girls of Jamaica can beat New Zealand. South Africa should beat Uganda, however, their goal difference may not count their favour.

The captain of the Proteas, Bongi Msomi, said that there was always a belief in the team that they could get a good result against the five-time champions.

“We believed that we could put up a great performance. It would have been great if it was a win, but we will take the draw.

“I’ve been with the girls for a long time. We’ve worked really hard to get in such positions and a few times we’ve let ourselves down. There’s so much pride to see them step up and play good netball. For me to be a part of that, it’s fantastic.”

The coach, Norma Plummer, warned that it’s not a given that they will beat the She-Cranes and they will have to work for the victory.

“Uganda has been playing really well at this World Cup. They have a totally different style of play, different from what we had today, and we have to work around that. Hopefully we can challenge them right to the end of the match.”

Jamaica and New Zealand play at 11:00 on Thursday morning, while the Proteas will face the She-Cranes at 16:00.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport