Netball World Cup: Wales Was More of a ‘Sparring Partner’ as Uganda Gears Up for South Africa
Results:
Wales 56-73 Uganda
Like it was in the England test series late last year, Uganda’s netball national team found no hurdle in smashing Wales on Wednesday morning at the Cape Town International Convention Center One.
Uganda who had two reserves [Sarah Nakiyunga and Viola Asingo] into the squad comfortably beat Wales 73-56.
The team had the lead from the start to the end and won three out of four quarters and the last one was a square at 15 goals.
She Cranes won the first quarter 15-12 before taking a 36-27 advantage at the halftime break.
Before the end of second quarter, Mugerwa made a change, replaced Margret Baagala with Lillian Achola.
Mugerwa continued to make changes in the last two quarters, Haniisha Muhameed, Shadia Nassanga, Viola Asingo and Kadondi Falida all today gotten a chance to play.
Mary Nuba top-scored for Uganda with 42 goals, she has utilized 42 chances well out of the 44 she got, 95.5% scoring accuracy, the best she has had since the tournament started, Shadiah Nassanga and Irene Eyaru were at 100% accuracy scoring 11/11 and 10/10 respectively while Haniisha Muhameed scored 11 out the 13 attempts.
Though she had a rest for at least a quarter, Margret Baagala continued with her fine form, the best in assisting the shooters, made 23 assists with Sarah Nakiyunga coming in with 16 assists, Shadia Nassanga with 12, Irene Eyaru made eight before she was substituted, Achola with four and Mary Nuba also made three assists.
Shaffie Nalwanja was named the man of the Match becoming the fourth Ugandan player to have the medal, Margret Baagala, Irene Eyaru and Shadia Nassanga won it first.
Georgia Rowe had 53 goals for Wales but her effort was not enough for United Kingdom team.
The win is revenge best served by She Cranes who lost to Wales 47-49 the last time they had met at the 2015 World Cup in Australia.
In this game especially in last quarter Mugerwa rested his key players as he is getting ready for South Africa, another tough encounter for Uganda on Thursday afternoon. South Africa is ranked fifth in the world but in their previous meeting (Commonwealth) Uganda beat South Africa with a difference of six goals(54-48).
To achieve their second target of finishing 5th in this tournament, Uganda has to beat the hosts to secure the third place in the group.