She Cranes play New Zealand in tricky World Cup fixture 

Uganda will play New Zealand in their second pool match on Saturday as the Netball World Cup 2023 enters day 2 in Cape Town, South Africa

The She Cranes are yet to pick a win from the Silver Ferns in all four meetings – although they have been narrowing the gap between them. Uganda lost 33-76 during the World Cup 2015 before reducing the margin to 13 in their 51-64 defeat at the Commonwealth Games 2018. The gap was further maintained to 13 at last year’s Games before the Fast World Series registered a low score ending 49-32.

“Uganda played really well. There were a lot of lessons that we learnt out there – their style of play is quite different,’’ Coach Dame Noeline Taurua said after watching the She Cranes in their 79-37 action against Singapore.

Coach Fred Mugerwa said his team would be targeting to score more goals in the game against New Zealand. 

“We have to score more…I think there were some errors in the game against Singapore and we need to correct them and we will work on that.

“Some passes were not good so we need to work on that, some of the movements as well, but the moment we work those ones out I think everything will be fine,” he said, stressing that New Zealand was like any other team.

Mugerwa had the liberty to bench some of his experienced players in the game against Singapore but its most unlikely that he can afford to bench Mary Nuba and captain Irene Eyaru.

Fixtures

Saturday @10.00am

New Zealand v Uganda
Zimbabwe v Fiji

Saturday 12.00 pm

Australia v Tonga
Jamaica v Wales

Saturday 5.00 pm

Scotland v Barbados
South Africa v Sri Lanka

Saturday 7.00 pm

England v Malawi
Trinidad & Tobago v Singapore

Groups:

Pool A: Australia, Tonga, Zimbabwe, and Fiji

Pool B: England, Malawi, Scotland and Barbados

Pool C: Jamaica, South Africa, Wales and Sri Lanka

Pool D: New Zealand, Uganda, Trinidad & Tobago and Singapore

Format

There are three stages – two group stages, followed by a knockout and placing phase.

• When teams are knocked out they will continue to play matches with the teams being ranked from one to 16 by the end of the tournament.

Stage I (Preliminaries Stage: Friday, July 28 – Sunday, July 30)

• It starts with the 16 teams in four pools, taking each other on in a round-robin format.
• Each team plays three games and after three days of competition, each team in each pool is ranked from one to four.

The top three teams from Pool A and B move forward to form Pool F, while the top three teams in Pool C and D form Pool G.

The bottom team from each pool is effectively eliminated from the main competition, but move into Group E to contest 13th to 16th place.

Stage II (Second Stage: Monday, July 31 – Thursday, August 3)

• The teams in Pool F and G each carry forward the results (points/goals for and against) from the matches played against the two teams they have already faced in their first-stage pool.
• They play three further matches against the teams that have joined them in the second-stage pools (so the three teams from Pool A play the three Pool B teams and the three teams from Pool C play the three teams from Pool D).

Once all the matches have been played, the top two teams in Pool F and Pool G qualify for the semi-finals.

• The remaining teams can no longer win the World Cup, but move on into final classification matches.

Stage III (play-offs and placing: Friday, August 4 – Sunday, August 6)

• In the tournament’s final stage, there can be no draws – all matches must be played to a result.
• In the semi-finals, the winner of Pool F plays the runner-up in Pool G with the winner of Pool G playing the runner-up in Pool F.

Matches for medals follow, where the two teams who won their semi-final ties lock horns for gold and silver, and the losers battle for bronze.

• Teams that finish third or fourth in Group F or G compete for fifth to eighth place. This is followed by a final classification match where the winners and losers take to the field. The format also applies to those vying for the ninth to 12th slots.

Finally, the top two teams in Group E play a final classification match for 13th and 14th place. The bottom two teams play a final classification match for 15th and 16th place.