Bongi Msomi and her warriors will fight for the bronze medal at the Netball World Cup today after getting edged out by Australia in their semifinal yesterday.
They take on the winner of the New Zealand and England play-off, who faced off later in the day.
And if the South Africans can reignite the fire they unleashed against the Aussies at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool yesterday, they'll have a great chance of winning their first medal since 1995.
If frustrated football, cricket and rugby fans are searching for new national heroes, they need look no further than the ladies who went to war in England.
RAMPARTS IN DEFENCE
Sure, they lost; yes, they made mistakes that cost them in the end; but they showed a spirit on the court that hasn't been seen often enough by SA fans in the past few months.
The Proteas seemed out of it at halftime, when they trailed by eight goals. But they fought back to just a single-goal deficit on two occasions in the final quarter before losing narrowly 53-55.
Phumza Maweni and Karla Pretorius were ramparts in defence, halting attacks and sparking counterattacks.
Khanyisa Chawane, Erin Burger and Msomi all produced world-class performances on the centre court, while Lenize Potgieter and Maryke Holtzhausen were deadly in front of the basket.
But they also made a few too many mistakes at critical moments, especially in the opening two quarters.
FAILED TO WORK ON THE BALL
In fact, their opening error of the match possibly cost them the game, at least psychologically. SA started the game and fed the ball to Potgieter, who scored for a 1-0 lead.
Then came an intercept and the ball got to Potgieter, who failed to score. The Aussies hit back to equalise through goal shooter Caitlin Thwaites, who finished the match with a perfect 30/30.
If anything would have knocked the SA belief that they were going to beat Australia for the first time in their history, it might have been that.
Tomorrow’s my 50th Test match and I’m handing over the reins
— Norma Plummer - Proteas coach
SA and Australia went goal for goal for more than 10 minutes before the Diamonds nailed a turnover and scored to take the lead for the first time, at 8-7. They were four up after the first quarter.
SA produced their own turnovers on several occasions, but they failed to work the ball to the net on too many occasions.
Potgieter (39 goals) and Holtzhausen (14) missed two goals each in the match, but there were too many passes that went astray out on the court as well.
SA will have to cut down on their mistakes today, but equally they should have forged the belief and confidence that they can make the podium.
Against Australia the Proteas won two of the four quarters, the third 16-12 and the fourth 14-12.
"We just didn't place the ball right in some pressure situations, but it's a learning thing," said coach Norma Plummer, who takes charge of the Proteas for the 50th and final time of her four-year tenure.
"We wanted to make the [top] four, we're not out of the medals yet . I'm really pleased with that performance."
The Proteas won the silver medal after surprising New Zealand in a group match at the 1995 showpiece, also in England.
In 1967 SA won the bronze medal when the competition was a single round-robin format, with no knockout matches.
Their best result in Liverpool was beating Jamaica last weekend. Just one game to go.
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