WATCH | SA's netball team arrives home to a heroines' welcome

The national netball team arrived home to a heroines' welcome from a raucous crowd at OR Tambo Airport after returning from the Netball World Cup in England on Tuesday evening.

The brave Proteas made the nation proud as they marched to the semifinals‚ eventually finishing fourth at the tournament after losing to hosts England in the bronze medal match on Sunday.

The South Africans won their first five matches in succession‚ beating Trinidad and Tobago‚ Fiji‚ Jamaica‚ Scotland and Uganda before losing their final preliminary round match against England.

They went on to lose to Australia in the semifinals and to then England in the third and fourth play-off.

Against Australia‚ who lost to New Zealand in the final‚ the Proteas went down by two goals in what was one of the best matches of the tournament.

The players were led by inspirational captain Bongi Msomi as they walked out of the arrivals gates and and they were welcomed Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa and Gauteng MEC for Sport Mbali Hlophe.

Even though they did not achieve their target of a medal at the tournament‚ the players will share R1.2 million bonus from sponsors Spar.

In addition to the R1.2 million that they are going to share from Spar, Telkom have also confirmed that they are rewarding the players with R200,000 each.