KEY POINTS:
The most-disappointing aspect of the Silver Ferns shock loss to the English on Wednesday night was not that they lost, but the fact that all their hard work from their stunning opening test victory was immediately undone.
Any chance the Ferns had of taking the psychological edge heading into their two-test series against Australia at the end of the month was wiped out with their stuttering performance in Dunedin.
Australian coach Norma Plummer was in the crowd in Monday night to see first hand the Ferns ride roughshod over the hapless English in the opening test.
After the first match England coach Sue Hawkins, an Aussie herself, believed Plummer would "be shaking in her boots" at the prospect of facing a New Zealand side that had clearly hit their straps.
It's hard to imagine Plummer being scared of a venomous snake let alone the Silver Ferns, but if she were worried about taking on New Zealand, she certainly won't be now.
To really have the Australians second-guessing themselves, the Ferns needed to back up Monday night's 65-26 pummelling of the English with equally ruthless displays in the second and the third tests.
Instead the New Zealand side that took the court were lacking in intensity and urgency, with England clearly the hungrier side.
The Ferns said all the right things after Monday night's 39-goal demolition of the tourists, insisting complacency would not problem in the second test. After all, this was virtually the same English team that had overwhelmed them in Manchester 18 months ago.
The public rubbished England's feeble performance in the opening test and expected more of the same in the remaining games.
But the Ferns camp dismissed any such talk, pointing out the visitors would be hurting after their humiliating defeat and they had the firepower within their ranks to bounce back, so the New Zealand side would not be resting on their laurels. Or so they said.
It was clear the Ferns performance in Dunedin they had slipped into a comfort zone. New Zealand looked genuinely shell-shocked by the fightback of the English.
They talked the talk, but in the end, they themselves didn't believe their own spin. The Kiwi side may have expected England to perform better, they just didn't expect them to hit back quite so hard.
In doing so, the Ferns have learnt a harsh lesson in the frailties of success in sport.
