Netball: Colling relishes tackling Aussies

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Rejuvenated shooter Belinda Colling is not afraid to take the heat for the Silver Ferns in tomorrow's one-off netball test against Australia, even though she has played just one game this year.

Colling, whose test career seemed over a few months ago, ran freely around the South African defence on Sunday, feeding a feast of ball to her new shooting partner Irene van Dyk.

But she expects the Australians to swamp the deadly accurate van Dyk tomorrow morning, pressuring the goal-attack to put up more shots.

"I'm ready for it," Colling said in Durban yesterday.

"I'll be quite happy not having an Aussie strapped to my back."

The former New Zealand captain revelled in her return to the court three days ago. A knee injury left her out of sight, and out of mind, for almost all of this season, until she got a last-minute call up for this tri-series tour of South Africa.

"It was strange finding my feet again, but I felt like my head was really switched into it," she said.

"I focused on getting the ball to Irene and it worked. But the Aussies will play a different game - they'll be out to target Irene.

"If I'm on the court at goal-attack, I'll be doing a lot more shooting. That's fine with me - they can give me free rein any day."

But Colling is fully aware that her shooting will have to be sharper against the world champions at Pietermaritzburg tomorrow.

"My shooting percentage was in the seventies the other day, and I caught a bit of flak for that," she said.

"We don't want the ball to leave the goal circle without the shot being scored, and we managed to get rebounds off most of the ones I missed.

"It's just a confidence thing that comes with time on the court.

"That was my first game of netball in nearly a year, but I've got the adrenaline pumping again."

Colling is confident that New Zealand could beat the Australians in this test, even though they were thumped by 23 goals at their last clash midway through the year.

She was buoyed after watching Australia's first-test effort against the Proteas - they won by 40 goals, while the Ferns beat the home team by 54.

"I hadn't seen Australia since the world champs last year, so when I saw them the other day it was like 'oh gosh, they're beatable.'

"I didn't think they had such a fantastic game.

"I definitely think we could come away with a 10-point win.

"This is a new team, but we're capable of it.

"But then you never know when you're playing Australia. Knowing us, there will probably be one point in it.

"It will definitely be closer than it was at the start of the year."

Colling is one of only five survivors from the Silver Ferns who lost by one in the world championship final a year ago.

But she believes that New Zealand netball has not been in such a strong position for a long time.

"Gone are all the old faces - I feel like I'm starting over again. But it's quite a refreshing feeling for New Zealand netball," she said.

"But we've still got players at home who are at this level but are having babies or having a break.

"We've got a really large base of top international players now, I think we're in a very good state."

New Zealand will get a second chance to assess the Australians this morning when they play their second test against South Africa, on wood, at the Pietermaritzburg Girls High School.

The Australians have taken the same team to South Africa who dished out the infamous hiding to the Silver Ferns in Newcastle.

But their players are in a similar boat to the New Zealanders - neither have had much netball in the past two months.

The Australian internationals were excused from playing the final stages of their national league competition in the past few weeks.

The South Africans, meanwhile, have been training intensively for this historic series, playing as many African nations as they could squeeze in during the last month in camp.

But it seems their lack of decent competition within their borders - they play a national league only one week a year - is hurting their netball on the world stage.