Tall task ahead as NZ teams beaten

The Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns face uphill tasks if they are to earn automatic qualification to the London Olympics after both lost to their Australian counterparts in the first of their respective three-game series last night.

The winners of the Oceania Olympic qualifying tournament earn an automatic route to London with the losers facing the much tougher assignment of playing some difficult opponents in Olympic repechage tournaments a month out from the games.

It's not something the Tall Blacks want to do, although they have made strides on the international scene in recent times, and they will need to find a way to beat their more-fancied opposition after going down 91-78 in Melbourne last night.

They looked unperturbed by the sending home of guard Corey Webster, who was expelled from the camp on Tuesday for a breach of contract, but they need to provide greater backup to Kirk Penney and Mika Vukona.

The pair were New Zealand's most dangerous players, with Penney the dominant figure of the match in the first half as he picked up 16 points, but they lacked support at crucial times. Australia did a better job containing Penney in the second spell and the Tall Blacks went cold shooting from the outside and struggled to get good looks on the inside.

Thomas Abercrombie, who was the finals MVP when the Breakers claimed this year's Australian NBL title, will need to post better numbers if the Tall Blacks are to have any chance of upsetting Australia.

New Zealand were well in the match at halftime last night, trailing 47-45, and led 53-52 with 6.27 to go in the third quarter.

At that stage, Australia looked rattled but momentum swung wildly and the home side established a decisive 73-58 lead by three-quarter time.

There was a definite edge to the second half and it was marred by a couple of scuffles that resulted in New Zealand's Mark Dickel being ejected from the game for his second unsportsmanlike foul.

The Tall Ferns were left ruing a slow start to their match against the Australian Opals after succumbing 77-64. They trailed 43-26 at halftime but a third-quarter surge saw them narrow the gap and they sniffed a chance at 68-60 with 5 minutes remaining.

The size of Suzy Batkovic proved difficult for the Kiwis to contain.

The second matches in the series are in Brisbane tomorrow.