Proteas gear up for Taini Jamison Trophy against Silver Ferns in New Zealand

The Netball Proteas are scheduled to play a three-Test series away against New Zealand later this year, meaning they will have faced three of the world’s top four netball nations in 2025.

The series will form part of their preparations for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the 2027 Netball World Cup in Sydney, Australia. The fifth-ranked Proteas will challenge the Silver Ferns, currently ranked second in the world, for the Taini Jamison Trophy.

The matches will take place in Auckland, Napier, and Invercargill on September 21, 24 and 28.

The series will continue the South African team’s battles against some of the world’s best netball-playing nations this year. The fifth-ranked Proteas began their year with a challenging away series against the tough Jamaicans, who are ranked third.

They then faced off against fourth-ranked England in the Nations Cup in the UK that also boasted fellow African giants Malawi and Uganda.

That tournament featured a memorable victory over the hosts, an indication of the growing threat posed by the South African team to the established world order. National team coach Jenny van Dyk has stressed the importance of taking on the best netball teams in the world if the Proteas are to make the podium at major tournaments.

“We learned so much during our tour of Jamaica and England earlier this year, and we need to step up our game. It is important for us to play against the top four teams as often as possible,” she said. “I am happy with our core group of players, but we will keep an eye on the Telkom Netball League to identify any talent that we may have overlooked.” 

Assistant coach Zanele Mdodana also emphasized the importance of competing against top teams to assess the strength of the Proteas.

“If we want to reach the semifinals in the Commonwealth Games and the World Cup, we need to beat at least one of the top four teams. Therefore it’s crucial for us to play these teams consistently and frequently,” Mdodana said. 

The head coach of New Zealand, Dame Noeline Taurua, is also looking forward to the series as a way to build squad depth and combinations.  Over the past 10 years, the Proteas and the Silver Ferns have faced each other 37 times, with the Proteas winning only one match.

In 1995, South Africa managed to defeat New Zealand 59-57 in Birmingham and subsequently played Australia in the final of the Netball World Cup. In the most recent encounter between Proteas and Silver Ferns at the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town, the teams drew 48-48.