Netball: Van Dyk happy on and off the court

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Irene van Dyk has no regrets.

She did not even feel a twinge of sadness yesterday as she helped to thrash the South African netball side she left barely a year ago.

"Nah, no way. I'm a Kiwi girl now," said the shooting star who has been rapidly absorbed into the Silver Ferns.

"It's lovely playing in a winning team."

It is obvious that the Proteas have suffered heavily by losing the world's hottest shooter, but New Zealand have taken full advantage of their gain.

Van Dyk was the most-used Fern in the tri-series, playing 11 of the 12 quarters and resting only in the final 15 minutes of yesterday's 81-35 hiding.

Her brief respite on the bench gave her the chance to evaluate where her old team had gone wrong.

"They are trying too hard to play like the Aussies and New Zealand, and that's just not their style," she said.

"They can't keep up with the pace.

"The only thing that is going to help them is if they go back to the basics.

"I think there's a lot of potential there, but they've got to go back to the bottom and work their way up."

South African coach Elize Kotze, an old team-mate of van Dyk's, agreed that the basics needed polish, but said the world's top two teams had inspired her players to experiment on court.

Yvonne Willering, the Silver Ferns' coach, was not concerned with the Proteas' slip backwards in this series, when they have not broached the 40-goal gap.

They still have two more tests against Australia.

"I think we still need to focus on ourselves instead of looking at other countries," Willering said.

"South Africa have a new team and they're looking towards the next world championships. They'll come back, I wouldn't be too worried about them."

Van Dyk had been worried about the way she would be treated by the South Africans, who had reacted badly to her move.

"I rather expected the worst, but I got off really easily," she said. "The South African players were pretty stiff in the beginning, but now at least they speak to me.

"The crowds here, though, were amazing. I felt like they were right behind me."

But van Dyk said she had no intention of returning to her homeland to live or play netball again.

"I intend to play for New Zealand forever now.

"I'm not going to retire for a long time either," she said.

"I'm pretty happy with my game now. I would have like my accuracy to have been better - you know I'm looking for 100 per cent."

In the last three tests, she averaged 89 per cent, easily the best figures in Cape Town or Pietermaritzburg.

After visiting a game park today, the Silver Ferns leave South Africa having achieved everything they wished for on their three-test tour.

Their first goal was to beat Australia, then to finish unbeaten, and finally to get all 12 players on court.

Willering managed to achieve the last aim in one game yesterday, with all the squad getting at least a quarter of court time.

"It was also important to get both Bernice [Mene] and Lesley [Nicol] - the captain and vice-captain - on court together for the last quarter today," she said.

"We may never get that moment again - you can't predict the future."

However, Willering was not about to elaborate on that oblique reference to whether either player was contemplating imminent retirement.

One of the finds of this tour was Adine Harper, who seems to have solved the Ferns' long-time problem of who to put at wing-attack.

The versatile Harper is better known as a shooter, but grimaced when she had to replace the injured Belinda Colling at goal-attack in the final three minutes yesterday.

New Zealand's depth on the bench was a luxury they have not always had in recent years and former Fijian captain Villimaina Davu proved what an explosive defender she is coming off the bench.

The Silver Ferns will not play again until June, when they meet England and possibly play another tri-nations series with Australia and South Africa.

New Zealand: Irene van Dyk 40 from 44, Tanya Nicolson 24 (29), Belinda Colling 15 (15), Adine Harper 2 (4). Quarters: 25-11, 45-20, 62-28, 81-35.