Netball: Van Dyk ruled out of Fast5

Irene van Dyk has been ruled out of the Fast5 series with injury. Photo / Christine Cornege.

Irene van Dyk's international swansong has been scrapped after the legendary shooter cruelly ruled out of the Fast5 World Series through injury.

An emotional van Dyk informed her teammates this morning she would not be taking part in this weekend's tournament after being sidelined with a back injury. The 42-year-old, who in her 217-test career has never missed a game through injury, strained her back in a training session yesterday and was forced to withdraw from the tournament.

The loss of the super-shooter is a set-back for the Fast5 Ferns who are out to defend their title without the skills of the tournament's top shooter Maria Tutaia and Silver Ferns captain Casey Kopua.

But it is an even bigger personal blow for van Dyk as the tournament was to double as the star shooter's swansong from international netball following her shock retirement in June just weeks out from the Commonwealth Games.

"I had my tears...I was pretty emotional. I had been really looking forward to it and it was supposed to be a massive hurrah," she said.

Van Dyk will remain with the Ferns team as a technical advisor for the tournament, while young Magic shooter Malia Paseka has been called into the squad as van Dyk's replacement.

Fast5 Ferns coach Janine Southby said she is hugely disappointed for van Dyk.

"I think for the fans to see Irene one more time out there for New Zealand would have been really special. But she will still contribute a lot to the environment."

With the Ferns' preparation time for this weekend's tournament already limited, the late change to the team has further complicated the team's build-up. But Southby said she has been impressed with the way Paseka has slotted into the line-up after just one training session.

"The poor girl turned up at 9am and we said 'okay Malia, this is the game in a nutshull' and the younger ones have been tasked now to upskill her on the rules and that's their challenge in the next couple of hours."

There was a further scare in the New Zealand camp with captain Laura Langman missing this morning's training while she had a lower leg injury assessed by medical staff, but the dynamic midcourter has been given the all-clear to play this weekend.