The New Zealand netballers were pushed harder than many expected before beating Uganda 53-40 in their second game of the tournament.
The tall Ugandans played in a style reminiscent of many Caribbean teams with lots of aerial play and some hard, fast movement and they clearly worried the New Zealanders.
While it never seemed likely New Zealand would lose, they were pressed all the way, after leading 31-18 at halftime.
Coach Noeline Taurua said she was happy that New Zealand had been tested. “The pressure was immense, and that’s good. We had to maintain our plans and execute and we did. I’m very happy.”
Taurua said there were some relatively inexperienced players in her lineup and they were encountering a style they’d never run into previously.
“We had some newbies start the game and they had to get used to something different coming at them. It will do them a lot of good. I had planned to make various changes and decided to stick to it, though I did bring Whitney [Souness] back on in the third quarter just to settle the centre.”
New Zealand had 60 shots at goal to Uganda’s 51, but found the Ugandan defence difficult to penetrate at times.
All three New Zealand shooters were put under pressure and their statistics – Grace Nweke 32 from 37, Te Paea Selby-Rickit 7 from 8 and Maia Wilson 14 from 15 – were satisfactory in the circumstances.
Taurua again used her entire squad and has achieved the goal of getting all her players well into the tournament while still putting two good wins on the board.