CAERLEON'S Georgia Rowe says representing Wales in the Netball World Cup in Australia was the experience of a lifetime.

The 20-year-old, 6ft 5in tall Cardiff Metropolitan University undergraduate helped Wales to claim their best finish at the tournament in 24 years.

Rowe and teammates started the tournament ranked eighth in the world and beat Fiji (ranked seventh), Zambia and Uganda to top their preliminary round pool table.

But Trish Wilcox’s side then lost out to South Africa, England and Australia, ranked fifth, third and first in the world respectively, in the next stage.

And they were also beaten by Malawi (ranked sixth) in their play-off match before ending on a high with another victory over Uganda to claim seventh place.

Their previous best was also seventh when the tournament was last held in Australia in 1991 – four years before Rowe was born.

“It was an awesome experience and I wish I could do it all over again,” she told the Argus, a week after her return to Caerleon.

“We went in ranked eighth and we ended up seventh and made a bit of history so we were happy.

“My family were all with me as well and I’ve had loads of messages from people who were watching. It’s been crazy.”

Rowe says she was happy with her own performance Down Under.

In her first appearance in the tournament – as a replacement for close friend Chelsea Lewis in the 71-44 win over Zambia – she bagged 12 goals from 12 shots in 15 minutes.

Given three quarters against England, the goal shooter scored 16 goals from 21 attempts in her 45 minutes on court.

She was back up to a 100 per cent accuracy rate with eight from eight in two quarters against hosts and eventual champions Australia and five from five in 15 minutes against Malawi.

And in the 7th/8th place play-off against Uganda, playing alongside Lewis for the whole match, Rowe scored 32 from 38 attempts.

She said: “It was a great experience for me because I didn’t expect to get as much court time as I did.

“Playing against the best teams in the world, like Australia, has definitely improved my game.

“And the whole atmosphere in Sydney was amazing because netball is massive out there. It was fantastic.”

Rowe is back in training next week and her next destination is likely to be the slightly less glamorous Aberdeen for the under-21s Netball Europe event in October.