Netball: Aussies gunning for No 1 after win

Temepara George nips away from Australia's Selina Gilsenan to make her pass. Picture / Mark Mitchell

Australia 51 New Zealand 47

Australia brought the Silver Ferns attack to standstill to claim a hard fought win in the first test in Wellington last night.

The New Zealanders led the first two quarters but couldn't shake the determined Australians who edged ahead in the final quarter.

They have little time to turn things around with the second test in Auckland tomorrow night and the third in Christchurch on Monday.

Since the world championships, the Australians have beaten New Zealand only three times in 11 matches.

However in their last encounter in July, a much improved Australian side beat New Zealand leaving many to wonder if the Australians were gaining some traction ahead of the next year's world championships.

After last night's performance it certainly looks like they are.

Australia captain Liz Ellis said the most pleasing thing to come from the match was her side's composure.

"The fact that we didn't get rattled when we were down at halftime. We knew we had to grind away and do the little things well.

"When we got ahead we had the composure to stay steady and maintain possession. So having that resolve to come back from that deficit against such a quallty side as New Zealand was really pleasing."

When asked where that composure came from Ellis replied: "We are all scared of Plum [coach Norma Plummer] ," she joked. "She has threatened to do terrible things to us.

"That just comes from experience. We have been on a learning curve since the world championships and I think we are starting to see the fruition of it now."

Plummer said there wasn't anything about her side's performance last night she didn't like.

"We didn't come over not to win. We have got to get back into that winning mode."

Ferns coach Ruth Aitken was disappointed. "We ended up not working together. Australia sort of split us apart and we have to have a real team effort to beat Australia.

"We have to play with a lot more confidence and let the ball go.

"Our defence was not as effective as we'd have liked and we're still toying with different combinations."

Silver Ferns captain Adine Wilson said her side fell into the trap of playing safe netball in the last quarter.

"They made the first break and went for it. It was tit for tat and it was a matter of seeing who was going to make the first mistake and unfortunately it was us.

"I don't think we lost it then. We let them score the next one and then they got on a roll. We need to make sure if it is tit for tat and they break, we need to break that next one."

Wilson said Australia applied a tremendous amount of pressure around their shooting circle.

"In that first half when we let that ball go it was fantastic. What we stopped doing in the second half was letting the ball go and having confidence in each other. When we play with confidence that is when we really hum."

New Zealand ended the match with an 82 per cent shooting record landing 47 from 57 attempts, Australia ended with 86 per cent securing 51 from 59 attempts.

For the Silver Ferns the key to this match was always going to be slowing down the Australians on attack. Crucial to their win was also going to be the performance of young goal attack Maria Tutaia who was thrust in the starting position following the withdrawal of Belinda Colling.

The 19 year-old came through the match well, steadily improving as the game progressed.

While the Australians were not given the same amount of freedom on attack as they had in Sydney, they were still extremely effective in working the ball into their shooting circle.

But both side's shooting combinations were firing which turned the game into a battle of the defences.

In a match marred by some controversial umpiring, the Australians pounced on the Silver Ferns' hesitancy in the final quarter which won them the match.