The fierce rivalry between the SPAR Proteas and England’s Vitality Roses will be reignited when the SPAR Challenge netball series gets underway at the Ellis Park Arena in the City of Johannesburg on Thursday.
The teams currently ranked fourth and fifth in the world have enjoyed some hotly contested clashes over the years – most recently at the start of last year, when the SPAR Proteas claimed one win and England one win in the Nations Cup in the UK.
What makes this week’s SPAR Challenge even more intriguing is the fact that the arch-rivals have been drawn in the same pool for the Commonwealth Games, to be held later this year in Glasgow.
“I think with eyes on the Commonwealth Games, this is great preparation for us as a country to see what type of combinations work best against the combinations that they put out there,” said SPAR Proteas coach Jenny van Dyk.
“It’s great to have the first opportunity as a new coaching pair to actually play one of the [world’s] top four in South Africa. That’s also something that we feel – they need to feel a little bit of our environment, so we’re hoping that the crowds will come out and give them that true South African feel to the game as well.
“You only become the best if you play against the best and if you beat the best… And it’s important that the players understand the standard they have to uphold,” added Van Dyk.
SPAR Proteas captain Khanyisa Chawane said she was confident her side has what it takes to pull off another win against the English, especially on home turf.
“I’m extremely excited, especially because the team that’s going to face them now is not the same. We’ve got new people who have new things to give, so we’re getting into this series unpredictable and that’s what I love about this team.
“Every person who is within this squad is ready to perform for us going into this series. With England we never really want to step back, we are going to go in hard, we want to win this series and that’s what we’re looking forward to.”
The England camp expressed their love of touring South Africa and the respect they have for the SPAR Proteas side after so many close battles.
“I think this head-to-head over many years has actually brought a fantastic quality of netball – quite a different style to match – ups between ourselves and Australia and New Zealand. In its own right I think the head-to-head has been really entertaining and really competitive,” said England coach Jess Thirlby.
“We really respect the passion and the momentum that the Proteas have had over the last 18 months… the breakthrough talent that’s come in, so we’re really grateful for the opportunity to hit out against what we believe to be a South African team on the rise.”
England captain Fran Williams added: “I know we’ve got a few girls in our squad who haven’t had the opportunity yet to play against South Africa… so that’s very important for us as well, to have some players get that exposure against the South African style, feel the rivalry that we now have which is really special.
“I’m expecting similar rivalry to what we had last January, but here on your home soil, so we’re very excited for it.”
The opening match between the SPAR Proteas and the Vitality Roses takes place at 6pm on Thursday, with the remaining matches being contested on Saturday (5pm) and Sunday (4pm).Prior to each of the matches, the South African men’s netball side, who recently came off another successful campaign at the Africa Netball Cup, will also be put to the test as they take on the visiting Australian national team, also in a three-Test series.
