Ngubane continues to rewrite netball history after Fireballs’ TNL tile heroics

IT has been a remarkable few months for Golden Fireballs, University of Johannesburg and Proteas goal attack Owethu “Sammy” Ngubane.

- ROWAN CALLAGHAN

Fresh from helping guide UJ to a first USSA Netball Championships title in years, she was able to repeat the feat in the Telkom Netball League with the Fireballs.

The latter triumph was achieved in remarkable fashion as the Fireballs won every match in a gruelling run of three power weeks that took them from Sun City in North West to Durban for finals week.

Catching fire

The weather on the KZN coast didn’t always play ball, but the Fireballs ensured there would be no drop in temperature on the court.

Near misses in the previous two seasons were relegated to distant memories as they buried defending champions the Free State Crinums with a stunning come-from-behind 47-40 victory at a rocking Durban ICC.

The 21-year-old Sammy was central to that victory, masterminded by former Proteas coach Dr Elsje Jordaan, who was ably assisted by former Proteas and Fireballs skipper Bongi Msomi.

“First of all, it was so exciting to actually play a final this year because we had missed out in two years now - since 2022,” Ngubane told Independent Media Sport exclusively in the week after their famous win.

“We were so happy that we ended up getting what we wanted to get as a team and that our goals were ticked.