For the second successive match, striker Tarryn Bright spared South Africa’s blushes when she landed the match winner in her side’s 1-0 win over Ireland on Friday in the third Test played at Stellenbosch in the Western Cape.
Bright also scored the lone goal in South Africa’s close-shave 1-0 victory over the tourists on Tuesday.
The final score line could easily have been trebled but for an inept display by South Africa in front of their opponents’ goal.
South Africa were far more patient in their build-up movements, and quite content to switch attack from one side of the field to the other in the opening stages.
Ireland, on the other hand, were equally patient in their few forays into the South African half but they lacked cohesion on the fringes of the circles and were unable to set up any real scoring opportunities. At times they were thwarted by basic errors.
The home team looked pretty disjointed upfront, more so in the face of Ireland’s solid central defence, and it was not surprising that the hosts failed to score after they enjoyed a surfeit of possession in the first half.
Ireland pulled off a few penetrating runs down the left flank, but they were met with stout defence, most notably by Cindy Brown, deep inside South Africa’s half.
In the second half a lightning-fast counter-attack by Ireland came within a whisker of cracking the hosts’ defence.
South Africa hashed one scoring chance after the other. Eventually it was left to the skilful Bright to unleash a reverse stick shot that thundered into the back of the Irish net to open the scoring nine minutes from the end.
The final and fourth Test between South Africa and Ireland will be played at Hartleyvale on Saturday afternoon, starting at 3pm. South Africa now lead the four-match series 3-0. — Sapa