England stormed back from a six-goal deficit at the end of the first quarter to book their place in the netball semi-finals with a 58-54 win over South Africa. The loss of centre Imogen Allison, who hobbled off with an ankle injury early in the second quarter, further threatened their chances, but England rallied with the help of eight from Lois Pearson to pull back to a single-goal deficit at half-time. England maintained their advantage throughout a muscular fourth quarter and Pearson finished with a perfect 17 goals from 17 shots to set up a semi-final against New Zealand on Saturday. Stembridge said: “We spoke around not getting too many opportunities like this, where it’s the last game of the pool stages and ultimately it decides a semi-final position. We knew we had more to give, and I’m just delighted that we gave enough to get ourselves into a semi-final.”