She Cranes tame South Africa, 5th at Commonwealth netball

⚫ 5th/6th Classification Match
✳ South Africa 48 Uganda 54

Birmingham, UK | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda’s She Cranes produced a superb first half show, to upset South Africa and take 5th place in netball at the Commonwealth games here.

South Africa, ranked 5th in the world, started the better out of the two sides taking an early 5 – 1 lead. The match then went goal-for-goal with both sides converting from their centre pass. However, a contact call against Elmere van der Berg gave Uganda the lead, and then a flying interception from Nambirige resulted in Uganda scoring six goals in a row. At the first quarter break it was Uganda with the lead, with the score 15 – 13.

Uganda, ranked 6th in the world, had the momentum in the second quarter scoring the first two goals, however a rare miss from Cholhok allowed South Africa to get on the scoreboard for the quarter. The She Cranes centre, Jesca Achan, then made a great interception from a South Africa centre pass with Uganda extending their lead to 9-goals. At the half-time break Uganda led 30 – 21.

South Africa came out fighting at the start of the third quarter, with their attack looking much more fluid. Ine-Marie Venter and Lefebre Rademan were working well together in the shooting circle, providing more movement than in the first half. A last second goal from the SPAR Proteas sparked a roar from the arena as Uganda went into the third quarter break leading by just 4.

It was set up to be a thrilling finish and it was a battle out there with all players fighting for every ball. An offside call against the South Africa centre, Chawane, allowed Uganda to take a 6-goal lead with 7 minutes left on the clock.

Uganda ran down the clock with patient play for the final 2 minutes with the full-time score South Africa 48 – 54 Uganda, meaning Uganda finish in 5th place whilst South Africa finish in 6th. 

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SOURCE: Commonwealth website