KEY POINTS:
Win, lose or be crushed by the Silver Ferns - whatever happens to Wales in this netball World Championship, their captain Ursula "Billy" Pritchard is staying behind.
As cliched as it sounds, Wales' loss could be New Zealand's gain, as Pritchard - one of the most influential netballers
in Britain - plans to emigrate here.
It's a decision that's already been made for Pritchard, whose new husband Ben is about to start a job with a civil engineering firm in the Bay of Plenty.
And the 1.75m goal defence, previously known as Billy Bowers, would be keen to play in the new transtasman league between New Zealand and Australia next year.
Although she plays for an English team in the Superleague competition, Pritchard has remained loyal to Wales for seven years - including two Commonwealth Games.
This is her third world championships; her elder sisters Edel and Imelda both played for Wales before her.
But she has crossed the border to captain Team Bath, the university-based club coached by former Silver Fern Lyn Gunson. Together they have won back-to-back Superleague titles in the past two seasons, losing just one game in 32. She describes Gunson as a great inspiration in her game.
Pritchard credits the Superleague with strengthening the Welsh side - nine of their players are involved in the England-based competition.
"It's the consistency of real tough competition, week in week out," she said. "It's helped us massively in the quality and consistency of our game."
Returning to New Zealand is like scratching an itch for Pritchard. She played in New Zealand for a year in 2001, as part of the Canterbury Flames squad, but was injured for half the season.
"It's always felt like I have unfinished business here," she said.
"The opportunity to play in the new transtasman league would be fantastic, but I'm aware of the position with only one import player in each team."
A strong effort against New Zealand in their second pool match on Monday might put Pritchard's name in the reckoning with a Kiwi franchise.
She's looking forward to the challenge of playing the world champions with an open mind. "We played them in a warm-up game before they played England and Australia in May, so we know what to expect," she said.
"To a certain degree, the pressure is off us and anything we can get from that game is a bonus.
"Our main focus here is to improve on last time [finishing 14th in the past two world tournaments], and that's so important to these girls."
A top 10 finish is within their grasp, she believes.
Once the world championships are done and dusted for Wales, Pritchard will say her goodbyes to her teammates and head to Tauranga.
She will start looking for a "real job" - maybe lecturing in biomedical science.
