Netball: Ferns thrive on easy pickings

By RICHARD BOOCK

Suggestions that the Silver Ferns look like world champions only when they play against weakened opposition were not exactly discredited by events at the weekend.

The New Zealand netballers cruised to a predictably comfortable 60-47 win over the reshuffled World 7 on Saturday night to win the Fisher and Paykel Series 2-1 and salvage a passmark from an otherwise mediocre international season.

Without three Australian stars who spearheaded the challenge in the previous two tests, the World 7 were not expected to be the same force at Hamilton, and their chances were further eroded when the arrival of two players was delayed until minutes before the team departed for the venue.

Midcourter Shelley O'Donnell and defender Sharon Finnan were caught up in a traffic jam caused by a fatal accident south of Auckland and arrived just in time to drop their gear at the team hotel and leave for the Mystery Creek courts.

After a typically shaky first quarter, New Zealand dominated the second period 21-6 for a 33-20 lead at halftime.

They then rode their advantage through the second spell, with only a brief third-quarter blip causing concern.

Unlike the previous two tests, New Zealand were not confronted by such defensive intensity through the court and revelled in the extra space, with the attack-end demonstrating a degree of control which had previously not always been apparent.

Wing-attack Temepara George repeatedly found her target in the shooting circle, as did centre Julie Seymour, while goal-shoot Irene van Dyk turned in her best game for New Zealand in six outings, showing good position and range to nail 55 goals from 63 attempts.

The Silver Ferns were so dominant that they were able to successfully absorb another quiet shooting game from goal-attack Adine Harper, who followed up five from 13 in the second test with five from 12 on Saturday night.

New Zealand were delighted to wrap up the series, with defender Linda Vagana winning a $30,000 Hyundai car for team funds.

But they have not completely dashed the suggestion that they struggle to cope with sustained periods of pressure.

They lost to Australia by 23 goals in Newcastle, won two inconsequential games against Team Pasifika and then tripped up in the next hotly-contested match, the first test against the World 7 at Wellington.

Only in the second test at Christchurch, when a much more cohesive World side were in with a chance throughout, could the Ferns have been genuinely pleased with their ability under pressure, and even then there was enough cause for alarm.

For coach Yvonne Willering, however, the final test of the season vindicated her decision to bring George back into the side and left her feeling confident about the team's progress.

"We had little idea of the opposition lineup, so it was very difficult to know what sort of tactics they were going to use," she said. "It was more about adjusting once we got out on court.

"But it was probably the best allround performance because we held on to the possession we had this time, and we capitalised on it and turned it into shots.

"It was our best shooting performance of the whole series. In the other games we had a ton of possession as well, but we didn't have the same scoring opportunities."