Netball: Ferns roar back to level series

By RICHARD BOOCK

New Zealand were at their desperate best at Stadium Southland last night as they beat Australia 58-47 in the second test to keep the series alive.

The hosts recovered from their characteristic slow start to lead through all the quarter breaks, and were able to snuff out Australia's last-ditch effort down the stretch to level the Fisher and Paykel series 1-1.

In front of a delirious, 4000-strong crowd, the Silver Ferns put the first test disappointment of a 51-47 loss behind with a far more compelling performance.

They led 16-12 at the first quarter break, 30-23 at halftime and 44-36 at the three-quarter mark.

Although Australia were able to narrow the deficit to four goals in the last 15 minutes, there was no way New Zealand were going to let this one slip through their fingers, and they were able to march out to a nine-goal buffer before accepting a standing ovation from the Invercargill crowd.

The teams now head for Christchurch, where they will meet in the series decider at WestpacTrust Stadium on Saturday night.

When it comes to dealing in misinformation, New Zealand coach Yvonne Willering has shown herself the rough equal of the Pentagon of late.

She made a point of emphasising yesterday that she would not necessarily start this match with the line-up which finished so strongly at Wellington.

But that is precisely what she did.

She slotted the recalled Julie Seymour into centre instead of first test starter Adine Harper and left the under-fire shooting combination of Irene van Dyk and Donna Loffhagen intact.

The move did not appear to pay off at the start as Australia sprang out to a 6-1 lead.

But New Zealand gradually found their feet and roared back into the game, taking out the first quarter 16-12 after some wonderful work in the attacking third of the court.

Whereas New Zealand struggled to convert their possession in Wellington, last night they found far more cohesion on the circle edge as Seymour and Temepara George - in particular - used the lob pass to full effect.

Van Dyk was virtually unstoppable, even against defenders of the ilk of Liz Ellis and Kathryn Harby-Williams.

She seemed to possess unnatural elevation when plucking passes off the fingertips of her opponents, or snatching rebounds under their noses.

Beside her, Loffhagen played a more characteristic shooting game and was virtually unrecognisable from the goal-attack who put up just 10 shots in the first test.

That was possibly the biggest single difference on the night.

The pair turned in a outstanding perfromance - van Dyk nailing a scarcely believable 45 from 47, and Loffhagen scoring 13 from 17.

As well as New Zealand's attack end performed, their defensive game was also a notch up on last weekend, and caused all sorts of problems for the world champions, particularly in the first half.

While Bernice Mene and Linda Vagana produced a sharper and more accurate effort to break down the Australian attack end, the New Zealand transition defence in general was superb, and generated numerous turnovers in the mid-court.

Seymour was just as influential on defence as attack and Victoria Edward - in only her second test - proved an able replacement for the unavailable Lesley Nicol.

In contrast to Willering, her Australian counterpart, Jill McIntosh, rang the changes in pursuit of a winning combination.

She sent in wing-attack Alex Hodge at the first quarter break and then gave 21-year-old goal-attack Jane Altschwager a test debut at halftime.

The changes reduced New Zealand's advantage through the third quarter, but were too little too late for the Australians, who in the end had few answers.