Netball: Australian dismisses English chances against Kiwis

By RICHARD BOOCK

Champion netball coach Jill McIntosh has scotched any suggestions of an upset when England square off against New Zealand in tomorrow night's first test at Stadium Southland.

Having watched her Australian side beat England 3-0 this year and then get pipped by New Zealand in the recent Tri-Nations series, McIntosh has no doubts about what is likely to happen in Invercargill at the weekend, and later in Palmerston North and Hamilton.

England have beaten New Zealand just once previously, in 1975, and McIntosh suggested from Canberra yesterday that they still needed to make major progress before they could expect to chalk up another win.

"The biggest hurdle for England will be [New Zealand goal-shoot] Irene van Dyk," she said. "England are on the improve, but I can't really see anyone in that side stopping Irene.

"Even if she was taken out of the equation, I doubt that they would be able to cope with Donna Loffhagen and Belinda Colling. It would be a more even contest, perhaps, but I'd still expect New Zealand to take each test comfortably."

McIntosh said one of England's problem areas was defence, where the No 1 goal-keep, Naomi Siddall, would struggle because of her lack of height.

The tourists could also call on 16-year-old rookie Geva Mentor, who was a shade taller than Siddall, but McIntosh believed the youngster's inexperience would provide the home side with a clear advantage.

"Siddall doesn't have the height to stop Irene, and Mentor, while she's an exciting prospect, hasn't the experience yet.

"The young defender's good; she's probably going to be very good and she's already showing a lot of promise.

"But I doubt she could cope with someone like Irene at this stage."

England, backed by a generous sponsor and with Australian Julie Hoornweg as coach, have identified the next world championship title as their goal, and they provided McIntosh's side with more spirited opposition than usual back in March.

But they failed to impress Australian observers while playing a handful of games across the Tasman last month, and have yet to set the alarm bells ringing in New Zealand, after three warm-up games against New Zealand A in Queenstown, and another match against a Southland Invitation side in Invercargill.

They played their final warm-up match last night against a New Zealand Maori combination.

"Julie Hoornweg has a lot of good qualities as coach, as we saw when she took charge of Fiji before the 1999 world championship," McIntosh said.

"We immediately noticed the lift in passion from the Fijians, and that's what you can expect to see in time from England.

"For all that, there's no quick-fix solution for England, as good as Julie is. You have to be patient and allow coaches a bit of time, and I'd expect by the time the next Commonwealth Games roll around, England would have taken another significant step forward."