Uganda, like Tonga at the Rugby World Cup, surprised South Africa and gave the home side a run for their money in the first netball test of the SPAR Challenge series in Mamelodi on Monday.
South Africa beat Uganda 41-35 in the first of three tests. It was a tough and disappointing win for the hosts who are only a few weeks away from departure for the World Netball Championships to be played in New Zealand in November.
Burta De Kock, coach of South Africa summed it all up by saying she was "surprised" by her teams performance and said that her team "have a lot of tidying up to do" not only to convincingly beat Uganda, the minnows of netball on the continent, but to be able to compete competently at the forthcoming World Championships.
"Its all very well practicing day in and day out, but to play matches is key to us doing well. Many of my players are not match fit and mentally they just are not prepared enough in matches.
"That is why this series is so critically important for our preparation for World Champs – without this series, we could have been in a lot of trouble going to New Zealand" admitted De Kock.
After a tense first quarter, South Africa lead Uganda 11-9 but the visitors came back strongly and levelled the score 20-20 going into half time.
In the third quarter a motivated Ugandan side took the lead 30-29; however in the fourth and final quarter South Africa regrouped and managed to dominate for the first time in the match eventually winning 41-35.
The South Africans can thank their captain, Bronwyn Bock-Jonathan for
the change in fortune in the final quarter. Bock-Jonathan who started
the match as a substitute was only brought onto court in the final
quarter and her leadership skills and smart centre court play gave
South Africa the edge.
Despite the win, South Africa will have to do a lot of work to lift their game if they hope to dominate the series. Although the South African’s turned the ball around 28 times, they only managed to score twice – an alarming stat for a world number five ranked netball nation.
The South African shooters were well off target all day and it seems as if the absence of the lanky Zululand star shooter, Sindi Gumede made a considerable difference. Gumede sustained a knee injury and will be out of action for at least five weeks but is hoping to be fit for the World Championships.
Ugandan Goal Defender, Betty Numukwasa was named best player of the match with fellow team mate, Annette Nakiwu being named best shooter of the match with an 86, 9% average.
The trophies were presented by the President of The International Federations of Netball Nations (IFNA), Molly Rhone who is a guest of Netball South Africa in the country.
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