Netball: Silver Ferns learn from England rugby debacle

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Clive Woodward's England rugby team may have inadvertently done New Zealand netball a favour with their pitiful performances against the All Blacks over the last two weeks.

World rugby champions last year, England played well below that standard and it is something not lost on Silver Ferns netball coach Ruth Aitken, whose team were crowned world champs in 2003.

The Silver Ferns are training in Blenheim this week for next Wednesday's first test against Australia in Christchurch -- their first re-match since the Ferns won the world championship final last July.

"I think the England rugby team has provided a very timely lesson for us," Aitken said.

"As a group we can't afford complacency to creep in. Our senior players group is really very instrumental in ensuring that the bar keeps being lifted."

"We are very lucky that the players have been involved in the National Bank Cup and it's been so intense. It's lifted their game."

Aitken said the players could expect to be taken out of their comfort zone in the build-up to the three-test series

While in Blenheim the Silver Ferns will play two practice matches against New Zealand A.

- NZPA