Netball: Aussies focus on van Dyk - and the 'fight'

Irene van Dyk

How to shut down Silver Ferns shooter Irene van Dyk is still the primary concern for Australian coach Norma Plummer nine months out from the Commonwealth Games.

When contacted yesterday, Plummer had just arrived home and was "relaxing with a cup of tea" after what she described as "a fight" rather than a game of netball.

While the main reason for her side's loss was their dismal shooting performance - they landed 43 goals from 64 attempts compared to New Zealand's 50 from 61- Plummer said they desperately needed more height in the circle to stop the high balls flowing into van Dyk.

She said Susan Fuhrmann, the 1.95m under-21 player, was unavailable because of a knee injury.

"It is an area that we seem to a bit short on in Australia - to have that extreme height."

Asked what caused her shooters to go off the boil, Plummer said it could only be that they were intimidated by the New Zealand defence.

"They certainly didn't just flick off, so obviously they were intimidated on the shot. But they didn't adjust to these things. That is something we have to work on.

"I didn't think we protected the ball as well as New Zealand did.

"We have to look at that [protecting the ball] and stopping the big pass going into Irene [van Dyk]," Plummer said, before adding that no one in New Zealand had succeeded in stopping van Dyk.

Plummer will select another team before the second one-off test in Auckland in October.

Like New Zealand, Australia are also touring Jamaica at the end of the year.

"We have got to go back to the drawing board and look at how we are going to challenge ourselves going forward," Plummer said.

The Australian newspaper said New Zealand were the "villains in black", with "Kiwi players continually competing outside the spirit of the game and warned several times by the umpires for rough play".

The Daily Telegraph paid tribute to the "superior physicality, ball-handling skills and more accurate shooting of the Silver Ferns".

The Sydney Morning Herald had headlines of "Kiwi netballers bash their way to victory on court of hard knocks" and "The gloves are off as Australia lose fight".

Writer Amy Lawson called Vilimaina Davu a "smiling assassin" and dished up a serve for the player of the match, Temepara George.