Baby Proteas march into the World Youth Cup quarters

The SPAR Baby Proteas continued with their 2025 Netball World Youth Cup winning streak as they dominated Fiji 86 -35 in their final Pool D match. The two nations met for the fourth time and South Africa are yet to taste defeat against the Pacific Islanders.

South Africa remains unbeaten in the tournament

SPAR Proteas Head Coach, Precious Mthembu’s charges plan. to carry their winning streak into the quarterfinals on Thursday where they come up against Cook Islands for a place in the semifinals. South Africa have never reached the last four of the global show pieces.

Mthembu made some changes to her starting seven, giving a few of the players that started the opening first three Pool matches a rest. As one would have expected, SPAR Baby Proteas were the first to draw blood and immediately put Fiji on the back foot with the fast-paced game. At the end of the first quarter, South Africa enjoyed a 23 -5 lead.

In the second quarter, South Africa managed to contain the Fijian attack and restricted them to scoring only 7 goals in reply to the SPAR Baby Proteas 21.

The Championship quarter saw the SPAR Baby Proteas flying high with the team continuing to press Fiji as best as they could and making sure that they restrict them in their own half. At the end of the quarter, South Africa led the game 67 – 22.

The final quarter saw Fiji fighting hard, but the SPAR Baby Proteas contained the onslaught winning the quarter 20-13.

The South Africa v Cook Islands game will start at 19:00 CAT on Thursday 25 September 2025 and will be streamed live on Netball Pass and Netball World Cup YouTube channel.

South Africa’s highest finish at the Netball World Youth Cup is fifth and Mthembu and her charges have set their eyes on improving that and doing better in this year’s edition.

“I am very pleased with the team’s performance today and getting a win against a strong opposition like Fiji. The results set us up nicely for quarterfinal match against Cook Islands. We now must shift our attention and focus on that match. Fortunately for us, we had a practice match against them when we got here so we have a better understanding of what to expect tomorrow,” said a delighted Mthembu.

QUARTER SCORE BREAKDOWN:

Q1 – SPAR Baby Proteas 23 – 05 Fiji

Q2 - SPAR Baby Proteas 44 – 12 Fiji

Q3 - SPAR Baby Proteas 67 – 22 Fiji

Q4 - SPAR Baby Proteas 86 – 35 Fiji

SPAR Baby Proteas Starting XII

GS -Mbali Diphoko; GA – Giada Prinsloo; WA – Renezia Andrews; C- Karla Victor ( C); WD – Zahrah Noah ( C ); GD –Kiara van Eeden; GK – Luca Keun