The Silver Ferns have tussled to a tightly contested 54-44 win over Uganda in their second Pool D game at the Netball World Cup in Cape Town on Saturday.
In stark contrast to their crushing victory over Trinidad and Tobago 24 hours earlier, the Ferns were made to work hard against the Africans, who showed no signs of intimidation against the defending champions.
They pushed the New Zealanders surprisingly close at last year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, before falling to a 13-goal defeat. They clearly took plenty of confidence from that experience to South Africa, as they made the Kiwis fight for every inch of the Cape Town International Centre court.
The combative She-Cranes posed problems at both ends of the court to provide the kind of test coach Dame Noeline Taurua would have appreciated, as she eyes the later stages of the tournament.
Defender Phoenix Karaka was the stand-out for the Ferns, wreaking havoc inside the circle to restrict the Ugandan shooters to just a 76-percent success rate to earn MVP honours.
The NZ attack had their radars well tuned, with just four total misses among Grace Nweke (15/16), Ameliaranne Ekenasio (12/12), Maia Wilson (10/11), Te Paea Selby Rickit (17/19).
"We knew it was going to be a game where we’d have to hold on and grind to stay in it until we could hopefully pull away towards the end," Silver Ferns captain Ekenasio said.
"Uganda are a quality team and we knew that they were going to bring it and that's exactly what they did today."
The first quarter was a closely contested affair, as the Ugandans came out of the gates with their trademark physicality to finish just two goals shy of the Kiwis.
That defensive tussle continued into the second quarter, with the Ferns heading into the halftime break with a precarious 25-21 lead.
The teams traded blows through the early stages of the third quarter, before the Ferns gradually edged away from their opponents with their increased intensity - as well as the addition of some of their more experienced substitutes - to close with a six-goal advantage.
Dame Noeline's notoriously high fitness standards paid dividends in the final quarter, with the New Zealanders able to gain some breathing room and eventually close out the tiring Ugandans with relative comfort.
New Zealand will round out their Pool D fixtures against Singapore on Sunday.
New Zealand 54 (Nweke 15/16, Ekenasio 12/12, Wilson 10/11, Selby Rickit 17/19) Uganda 44 (Cholhok 30/38, Eyaru 3/6, Nassanga 11/13)
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