Netball: Silver Ferns scrape past Uganda at Nations Cup in London

The Silver Ferns have scraped past a rapidly improving Uganda 65-60 at the Nations Cup in London on Monday morning (NZ time).

Both teams played with accuracy and ambition, with turnover opportunities few and far between. 

After trailing by two goals at halftime, the Ferns' shooting tandem of Grace Nweke and Georgia Heffernan clicked into gear to ensure New Zealand bounced back from their heavy defeat to Australia in the tournament opener.

 Nweke converted 53 of her 54 attempts on goal, while Heffernan added 12 of 13.

The Silver Ferns shuffled their pack in the midcourt, which was highlighted by the return of wing defence Michaela Sokolich-Beatson to international play for the first time in five years following two ruptured Achilles tendon injuries. 

Midcourter and on-court captain Kate Heffernan got the start at wing defence with her twin sister Georgia, following up her first-round international debut with a second successive start. Whitney Souness lined up at wing attack.

"We knew that they were going to be a tough team to come up against and we needed to be on our game," Silver Ferns defender Karin Burger said.

"We were prepared physically to grind out the match but a lot of the time it's the mental stuff and we wanted to fix yesterday's errors (against Australia) and make sure every pass was played for what it is and that every pass is crucial.  

"We made some growth but I think there's a little bit more growth to happen going into our game against England. We've had a lot of young players coming into this group but everyone deserves to be here and it's going to take a bit of time to gel and get those connections 100 percent and it's exciting to see what the future of our netball looks like.''

The Silver Ferns move on to face hosts England in their final round robin match on Sunday.

Silver Ferns 65 (Nweke 53/54, Heffernan 12/13) Uganda 60 (Cholhok 45/49, Eyaru 11/11).

The Silver Ferns have scraped past a rapidly improving Uganda 65-60 at the Nations Cup in London on Monday morning (NZ time).

Both teams played with accuracy and ambition, with turnover opportunities few and far between. 

After trailing by two goals at halftime, the Ferns' shooting tandem of Grace Nweke and Georgia Heffernan clicked into gear to ensure New Zealand bounced back from their heavy defeat to Australia in the tournament opener.

 Nweke converted 53 of her 54 attempts on goal, while Heffernan added 12 of 13.

The Silver Ferns shuffled their pack in the midcourt, which was highlighted by the return of wing defence Michaela Sokolich-Beatson to international play for the first time in five years following two ruptured Achilles tendon injuries. 

Midcourter and on-court captain Kate Heffernan got the start at wing defence with her twin sister Georgia, following up her first-round international debut with a second successive start. Whitney Souness lined up at wing attack.

"We knew that they were going to be a tough team to come up against and we needed to be on our game," Silver Ferns defender Karin Burger said.

"We were prepared physically to grind out the match but a lot of the time it's the mental stuff and we wanted to fix yesterday's errors (against Australia) and make sure every pass was played for what it is and that every pass is crucial.  

"We made some growth but I think there's a little bit more growth to happen going into our game against England. We've had a lot of young players coming into this group but everyone deserves to be here and it's going to take a bit of time to gel and get those connections 100 percent and it's exciting to see what the future of our netball looks like.''

The Silver Ferns move on to face hosts England in their final round robin match on Sunday.

Silver Ferns 65 (Nweke 53/54, Heffernan 12/13) Uganda 60 (Cholhok 45/49, Eyaru 11/11).

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