England host South Africa in three-Test February series — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Vitality Roses will host South Africa in a three-Test series in February 2027 — February 6 and 7 at Wembley Arena in London, then February 10 at Mattioli Arena in Leicester — with all three matches live on Sky Sports.
- Netball World Cup in Australia across late August and early September 2027 is the stated purpose of the series, with England currently third in the world rankings and South Africa fifth.
- England edged South Africa 58-54 in the final pool game of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, reaching the semi-finals and eliminating the Proteas at their own expense.
- South Africa won the previous Test series 2-1 in January 2026, taking the decider 65-50 in Johannesburg — the opposite result to England's narrow Commonwealth Games pool win.
- England will face Jamaica home and away in the autumn before the South Africa Tests, one of the two "opportunities to test ourselves" chief executive Fran Connolly cited.
- Fran Connolly said the South Africa series forms an important part of World Cup preparations and that fixtures at home and away against world-class nations will put England in the best position possible heading into the summer.
- Mami Diale said playing the Roses in February allows South Africa to gauge its readiness ahead of the World Cup and measure itself against teams ranked in the top five.
Why it matters: England Netball chief executive Fran Connolly gets two calibration windows — Jamaica home and away in autumn, then the February 6-10 South Africa Tests — before the late-August/September World Cup, while South Africa president Mami Diale gets a direct read on readiness against the side ranked third and the team that beat them 2-1 in the January 2026 series.
Ask SkimNews
