Uganda’s She Cranes humiliate Wales, eye semifinal place

Uganda ?? 76 Wales ??????? 40

Wales remain winless after a frustrating match against Uganda

Gold Coast, Australia | THE INDEPENDENT & WELSHNETBALL.COM | Peace Proscovia continued her shooting masterclass at the Commonwealth Games, scoring 56 goals as Uganda’s netballers mauled Wales 76-40 in their penultimate group game.

Sitting bottom of Pool B at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Wales (World rank 10) had it all to do against Uganda (rank 7), who despite some very creditable performances had just one win against Malawi to their name thus far in the tournament.

Uganda’s 36-goal margin win Tuesday now gives them an outside chance of making it to the semifinals.

Wales made some good early opportunities for themselves but failed to convert, nevertheless it was a far more settled start than in their previous three Commonwealth Games assignments. However, a lack of composure in their opponents’ end led to some unforced turnovers and Uganda raced to a first quarter 19-8 lead.

In all, the She Cranes demonstrated far more accuracy and dynamism in what proved to be a disappointing period for Wales.

Despite having an ice-pack applied during the interval, Proscovia continued her shooting masterclass immediately upon the resumption of the match.

Leila Thomas and Amanda Varey came on as Wales sought to find consistency and challenge the Ugandan lead. However, the required consistency never materialised as the Ugandan lead continued to grow apace.

Wales performed better during the first five minutes of the third quarter, but Uganda couldn’t be caught. Wales brought on Georgia Rowe and moved Chelsea Lewis to goal attack in their search for more goals, but Uganda continued to find acres of space on court.

The misery continued for Wales with Nia Jones receiving a warning from officials and the penalty count passing the 60-mark during the fourth period. Wales had only made 42 feeds into the circle by this point and it was creditable that Wales had converted 35 of these. However, generally it was difficult to find positives in what was a disappointing performance.

Pool B

Pos		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	4	4	0	0	288	157	+131	8	Semi-finals
2	New Zealand	4	3	0	1	247	181	+66	6
3	Uganda	4	2	0	2	230	211	+19	4	Classification matches
4	Malawi	4	2	0	2	209	231	−22	4
5	Scotland	4	1	0	3	158	232	−74	2
6	Wales	4	0	0	4	162	282	−120	0

Wales must now dig for every inch of team spirit and fortitude ahead of their final match of Pool B, against Malawi tomorrow.

Uganda looks good to secure third place, to qualify to play for 5th place overall in the classification round, if they overcome Scotland, ranked 9th in the world at 9.00am. They could as well secure a semifinal place.

With group leaders England and New Zealand facing off Wednesday, Uganda’s She Cranes could see themselves level at second place if they beat Scotland in their final match and the Silver Ferns lose. They will storm the semifinals if they can beat Scotland by a 30 plus goal margin, and New Zealand lose.

Uganda will have the advantage of playing after the New Zealand – England game, and will know the target they need — if the Silver Ferns lose. The team will also hope Proscovia is fully fit for this key game, as she had an ice-pack applied to reduce pain in her muscles at halftime before she could continue playing.

Uganda-Wales Quarter scores:

8-19 (8-19);

12-20 (20-39);

10-19 (30-58);

10-18 (40-76)

Starting Line Ups

Wales – (GK) K.Morgan, (GD) N.Jones, (WD) S.Drane, (C) K.Jones, (WA) S.Llewelyn, (GA) C.Moseley, (GS) C.Lewis

Uganda – (GK) S.Nanfuka, (GD) A.Lilian, (WD) F.Nanyonga, (C) R.Meme, (WA) H.Nakachwa, (GA) R.Nanyonga, (GS) P.Proscovia

The teams ranked third to sixth in each pool at the completion of the preliminary rounds will compete in the classification rounds as follows:
3rd Pool A v 3rd Pool B
4th Pool A v 4th Pool B
5th Pool A v 5th Pool B
6th Pool A v 6th Pool B
The classification rounds will determine
placings 5 –12 in the competition.