Netball: Ferns will respond to challenge, says Nicol

4.00pm - By SHARON LUNDY

KINGSTON - The Silver Ferns had a preview of the parochial Jamaican crowd when the home team lined up against Trinidad and Tobago in the opening game of the World Netball Championship here today.

Jamaica, ranked fourth but expected to go close with top the two, Australia and New Zealand, trounced their eighth-ranked Caribbean neighbours 89-30.

The home team put on an athletic display, topped off by superb ball skills.

But the lack of competition allowed them to get away with loose passes which would have been quickly snaffled by the trans-Tasman teams.

The Silver Ferns are likely to come up against Jamaica in the semifinals next Sunday (NZ time), if Australia beat the hosts in pool play.

Silver Ferns veteran Lesley Nicol, competing in her third championship, said the tournament would be tough but that New Zealand normally responded well to challenges.

"In some ways I think, as New Zealanders, we rise up when it's a lot harder," she told NZPA.

"So I think this could be more of a positive for us, being away."

Nicol has experienced the disappointments of the past two world championships, New Zealand were third in 1995 after losing to South Africa in pool play and second in 1999, going down to Australia by just one late goal.

She was confident the Silver Ferns had done everything possible to prepare for this tournament to take the top spot.

However, she is wary of looking too far ahead, saying the '95 experience had taught them every game was important.

Nicol, 30, is New Zealand's most capped netballer, with 95 games.

At the other end of the spectrum is Jodi Te Huna, 22, who is expected to win her first cap in the next two days.

She can't wait.

"It's really exciting, probably for two reasons -- it's in Jamaica and it's in a world championship year," she said.

"Most people have a testing time before world champs but I haven't, so that's good."

Te Huna might be the new girl but said she was treated no differently to the other players as they had all earned their place in the team.

"We know what the job ahead is and it'll be good once we get out there on court."

New Zealand's first game, tomorrow, is against Pacific neighbours Niue, who today beat Grenada 44-42 to win a place in Pool B.

Barbados also qualified in Pool B, while Samoa and the United States won places in Pool A, where they will meet Australia and Jamaica.

Meanwhile the woman who coached Silver Fern Irene van Dyk to glory with South Africa today lamented her country's loss of the woman she believes to be the world's greatest netball shooter.

Van Dyk shot to prominence when she led South Africa to victory over New Zealand in pool play during the 1995 World Netball Championships in Birmingham, England.

South Africa finished the tournament in second place, a remarkable feat given their apartheid laws meant they had been excluded from world netball championships for 28 years.

They finished fifth at the '99 championships and the following year van Dyk and her family moved to New Zealand.

Defender Leana du Plooy made her home in New Zealand as well in 2001.

South African coach Marlene Wagner, who also coached the '95 team, said the pair, who had 72 and 34 caps respectively, were a great loss and that their home team would have benefitted greatly from the pair's experience.

"I know sometimes players think maybe they will do better somewhere else and we can't keep them back. We don't own them. They make their own personal choices," Wagner told NZPA.

"But I trust that in future, players from South Africa will first think of their own country prior to leaving. It is sad that we have been left without two such top players who would have benefitted our team tremendously."

International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) rules state that players must be registered in the country they play for and that they can represent only one country each calendar year. Each country sets its own registration rules.

Van Dyk is widely regarded as the best shooter in the world - an assessment Wagner endorses.

"I really think she is a figure on the court that you can't miss and she is, I feel, a wonderful player and an absolutely accurate player," she said.

"She's been gaining these top honours for quite a long time as the most accurate shooter, be it test matches, be it world championships or be it Commonwealth Games - whatever - she's always been up there."

The absence of van Dyk and du Plooy have left South Africa with only three players with world championship experience - Lana Krige, Desmarie Kotze and Martha Machoga.

Wagner conceded their lack of experience could count against them but said they aimed to finish third or fourth, a job made harder by their inclusion in Pool A with reigning champions Australia and host nation Jamaica.

The "Sunshine Girls", boosted by a rampant home crowd, are widely expected to run Australia and New Zealand close for the title this year.

South Africa play Jamaica on Monday (NZ time) in their second match.

"It's on the day what you can manage. At the moment the team are positive and are ready to play their very best netball," Wagner said.

"One never knows on the day what will happen.

"It's like in '95, we came in absolutely blind to the world championships after 28 years' being out and we took it day by day."

Van Dyk said she was flattered by Wagner's assessment that she was the world's best. However, she did not accept any responsibility for South Africa's lack of experience.

"I left four years ago so you can't really say that is a gap because they had four years to get someone else in, which they did," she said.

Van Dyk moved to New Zealand with her husband Christie and daughter Bianca for lifestyle reasons and has no regrets.

"My baby is having a wonderful time. She can ride a bike, she can do whatever she wants outside."

Fiji is another netballing nation whose loss has been New Zealand's gain -\ powerful defender Vilimaina Davu shot to prominence for Fiji at the '99 world championship but moved to New Zealand to play for the Canterbury Flames the following year.

Davu, capped 55 times for Fiji, was selected for the Silver Ferns soon after.

Making the New Zealand team was a dream come true for 26-year-old Davu, who has made her home in Christchurch.

"Making the Silver Ferns ... was a great achievement for me," she said.

"It's another step up for me."

Australian coach Jill McIntosh, whose team members have represented only Australia, said she accepted van Dyk, du Plooy and Davu had all moved to New Zealand for a better lifestyle.

"As long as they're qualified under the rules, so be it," she said.

- NZPA