England Netball

The Roses have kicked off their Commonwealth Games campaign with the ideal start after securing two victories from two games against Scotland and Malawi.

On Sunday morning (6am first centre-pass, UK time), they’ll take on Uganda in what’s expected to be another highly physical match.

Uganda are ranked seventh in the world, just behind Malawi who England beat 74-49 on Friday.

Despite the score line, Natalie Haythornthwaite and the Roses aren’t taking anything for granted: ‘We need to focus on what we can do to keep building on our performances and make sure that we get the job done.

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‘Even though the score line against Malawi had extended quite a bit, they were still pushing us till the final whistle and I think that’ll be the same for Uganda.

‘Obviously Peace Proscovia who plays for Loughborough Lightning and who we’ve played against in the Superleague is an incredible player for them and we know that we’ll have to work really well defensively because they’ll work the ball to her and she’ll be scoring really well.

‘Whenever you play a netball match, no matter who you’re playing against, you always want to win.

‘We know that Uganda will be wanting to win so it’s important for us that we don’t get complacent at all.

‘I think this team’s really good at not doing that because we know that if we take the foot off the pedal, a team would be right there wanting to get the win against us.

‘We need to keep building on our performances, focusing on us and thinking about how we can win the next game.’

Kadeen Corbin added: ‘Uganda are similar to Malawi so our rest day is about reviewing the video (from Friday’s match), making sure we do the small stuff right and pushing forward.’

Natalie is playing in her first Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and reflected on the experience so far: ‘Thinking about it literally gives me goosebumps.

‘It’s been such a great experience and I’ve just been trying to take it all in.

‘You can’t put it into words really, until you actually experience it.

‘I heard so many things from the girls who had been to a Commonwealth Games before and it’s just incredible to be with so many different athletes.

‘Obviously netball’s not an Olympic sport so it’s our only chance to engage with multi-sports.

‘We’ve made so many friends here and so many amazing athletes, just to be a part of it is incredible.’

For details on BBC’s coverage of the Commonwealth Games, check out their schedule.

Make sure you’re following England Netball on FacebookInstagram and Twitter, and show your support on social media by using the hashtags #WeAreRoses and #TeamAndCountry

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