Netball: Ferns on top of World - at last

By RICHARD BOOCK

New Zealand's flagging netball reputation received a long-overdue shot in the arm last night, along with that of besieged Silver Ferns' coach Yvonne Willering.

The season which began with so badly in Newcastle and continued in Wellington last week finally took a turn for the better when New Zealand pipped the World Seven 52-51 in a heart-stopping second test at Christchurch to level the series 1-1.

If the hard-fought win was something of a boost for the Silver Ferns, then it must have been a huge relief for Willering, who made an astonishing tactical substitution at half-time which almost cost the game.

The New Zealand coach was widely expected to start the line-up which finished so strongly in the first test defeat, but instead gambled on playing Temepara George at wing-attack, a ruse which looked to be paying dividends when New Zealand led by seven at half-time.

However, a controversial decision to substitute George almost ended in disaster when replacement Anna Rowberry turned in an error-ridden passing game, allowing the World side to storm back to a 34-33 lead seven minutes into the third quarter.

When George returned to the fray after just one Rowberry quarter, the Ferns immediately regained some composure at the attack-end of the court, and managed to ride a hair-raising lead to the final whistle.

"We wanted more drive through the court, so I sent in Anna," explained Willering afterwards. "It wasn't that it didn't work, it's just that different players bring different skills, and in the final quarter we needed Temepara back out there.

"We were all feeling the pressure," she said. "Not just me, the whole team."

In front of a crowd of about 4500, New Zealand made an appalling start to the test, trailing 6-1 after the opening stanzas, but recovered to level the opening quarter 12-12, and then looked to have seized a game-deciding advantage as they took the second period 19-12.

After the hesitant beginning, the New Zealand mid-court looked to be coming to terms with the robust world defence, with George turning in her most accurate passing game, Julie Seymour handling the bulk of the feeding responsibilities, and Irene van Dyk shooting solidly to end with 47 from 55.

Perhaps the biggest concern was the form-reversal of goal-attack Adine Harper, who was virtually taken out of the game by Australian and world captain Kathryn Harby, and ended up shooting just five goals from 13 attempts.

As in the first test, the World side were not quite able to maintain their momentum through the full 60 minutes, but showed surprising resilience to recover from the half-time deficit and in the end went within a whisker of an unassailable 2-nil series lead.

Goal-keeps Vilimaina Davu and Leana Du Plooy proved outstanding replacements for absent Australian Liz Ellis, but it was at the other end of the court where the world side excelled, with the quartet of Shelley O'Donnell, Nadine Bryan, Sharelle McMahon and Elaine Davis proving a lethal combination.

The deciding test will be played in Hamilton on Saturday night.

New Zealand 52 (Irene van Dyk 47/55, Adine Harper 5/13), World Seven 51 ( Elaine Davis 26/30, Sharelle McMahon 25/31).