Netball: Silver ferns find their touch

By GREG TOURELLE

PERTH - New Zealand's netballers found their rhythm again and evened their trans-Tasman series against Australia with an emphatic 50-42 win early today (New Zealand time).

The Silver Ferns were mobbed by jubilant Western Australian expatriate Kiwis on court after the match, none more so than ace shooter Irene van Dyk, whose composure under aggressive Australian defence was one of the features of the match.

The win set up an exciting finale to the series in Melbourne on Saturday night.

The New Zealanders were rusty in losing the first test in Sydney, 54-49, last Saturday, failing to gain the dominant start they wanted and lacking confidence throughout the court.

But the confidence was back today, with midcourters Adine Wilson and Temepara Clark firing bullet passes to the shooters with a rhythm they couldn't find three days earlier.

The first quarter was tied 12-all, the New Zealanders drew ahead 26-21 at halftime, extended the lead to 10 at one stage in the third quarter before the Australians fired in a succession of goals to narrow the margin to four going into the final quarter.

The Kiwis then held their nerve and pushed their margin out to eight halfway through the final stanza and held it there.

Ruth Aitken was an ecstatic but relieved coach after the win.

"It's fantastic, we knew we had to get our act together today. Against Australia it's always a very hard battle. We knew they would come back at us."

She said even with seven minutes go she wasn't sitting easily, but the players delivered for her.

The key was finding back their confidence, Aitken said.

"There has been a huge resolve in the team. There is nothing like the pain of a loss to galvanise you into action.

"I was just delighted."

Aitken started the game with the young defenders Anna Scarlett and Joline Henry, but then introduced Vilimaina Davu at goalkeeper in the second quarter and Sheryl Scanlan replaced the energetic Scarlett in the third quarter in a bid to stem the tide of Australian goals.

It worked, with both older players showing more finesse than in Sydney and stifling the accuracy of the star of the Sydney match, stand-in captain Catherine Cox, whose shooting percentage dropped to 68 per cent in this match.

Captain Lesley Nicol teamed well with Clark and Wilson, whose variety of passes often bewildered the young Australian defenders.

While van Dyk was the linchpin, she was ably supported in the goal circle by Jodi Te Huna in the second quarter. Te Huna missed a few easy shots early in the final quarter, but finished strongly and her all round game pleased her coach.

"She did a power of work. She certainly knows she has played a game by the end of it but I think also the feeding of Adine Harper and Temepara Clark was just on the button today.

"We just had so much more drive all the way through the court which set things up for the shooters."

The shooting pair shot 50 goals from 62 attempts, with the irrepressible van Dyk rating at 84 per cent with 38 from 45. Te Huna shot 12 from 17.

Van Dyk paused briefly between signing autographs afterwards to echo Aitken's comment that finding their confidence was the key for the players.

"We obviously felt more in control and had more confidence and it was great."

Taking up the theme of the week, she said the team "had the mongrel" on court.

Nicol had said after the Sydney loss that the players were almost "too nice" and lacked mongrel and guts. That was interpreted by Australian media as a call for the Silver Ferns to be rougher in their play at Perth's Challenge Stadium, but what Nicol was calling for was more intensity and passion on court.

"We played for confidence, scored with our turnovers, we still made lots of unnecessary mistakes but we are getting there slowly," said van Dyk.

The Australians clearly missed captain Liz Ellis' leadership and experience in defence. Ellis who sprained an ankle ligament in the Sydney test may return to the Australian team on Saturday.

Aitken predicted Ellis would be on court on Saturday.

"I think she will move heaven and earth to play."

- NZPA