More questions than answers for Proteas as they end home World Cup in sixth

The Proteas’ Netball World Cup ended with a whimper. In front of a near capacity and vociferous crowd at Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), South Africa suffered an embarrassing 49-47 loss to Uganda in Sunday’s fifth/sixth place match.

South Africa, who finished fourth at the last Netball World Cup in Liverpool four yeas ago, disappointingly ended their tournament on home soil two places below that.

This was a repeat of Thursday’s second preliminary phase clash where South Africa won 52-50, but Uganda turned the tables this time to record a famous victory for the east Africans.

Uganda dominated most of the match from when they won the first quarter 12-11.

They went into an early 4-0 lead as they took advantage of South Africa’s elementary mistakes and continued to be a nuisance with goal shooter Mary Cholhok involved in a titanic battle with Phumza Maweni.

South Africa continued their mistakes but managed to somehow claw their way into the match and when the half time break arrived the score was level at 23-23.

Uganda were not in a hospitable mood and gave the Proteas a tough time and stayed in control of the match and by the end of the third quarter they enjoyed a two-point lead.

The Ugandans held on in the third fourth quarter to register a memorable win as they showed how much they have improved, and their wild celebrations showed how much it meant to them.

For South Africa, there are more questions than answers as to what the future holds for this team that failed to impress at home.

Jamaica and New Zealand will contest the bronze medal at 4pm and the final between Australia and England is two hours later.

On Saturday night, Wales beat Scotland 57-42 to finish in ninth spot and the battle for seventh spot that was won by Malawi, beating Tonga 64-54.

South Africa 47-49 Uganda

1st Quarter: SA 11-12 Uganda

2nd Quarter: SA 23- 23 Uganda

3rd Quarter: SA 37- 39 Uganda

4th Quarter: SA 47- 49 Uganda