World 7 53
New Zealand 44
A disastrous opening quarter totally floored the Silver Ferns' hopes of victory just 15 minutes into the second of their three-match netball series against a World 7 tonight.
And although the New Zealanders showed courage to battle back from a soul-destroying start, they eventually succumbed 53-44 in a match which
asked more questions than it answered about their quality.
It was the Silver Ferns' second loss in three days to the composite team, and the problems that were apparent on Monday in Wellington resurfaced again tonight.
New Zealand coach Ruth Aitken found herself struggling to sum up her team's second disjointed effort.
"It's very difficult to explain really, but in the end we were just flat," Aitken told One Sport.
"We had good surges towards the end of quarters but then we would start again poorly.
"The personal error rate was just too high. We're very disappointed and there's no excuse."
Aitken kept the faith with her stuttering midcourt from the 44-48 loss two days ago, and also opted to start with Joline Henry at goal defence after her introduction in the second half tightened up New Zealand's defensive circle in the first test.
The big change came at goal attack, where new cap Anna Thompson replaced 30-test incumbent Maria Tutaia as Aitken sought to test new combinations ahead of next month's five-test series against Australia.
World 7 coach Julie Fitzgerald also made a couple of judicious changes, starting English international Louisa Brownfield at goal shoot in place of the impressive Cathrine Latu.
In the midcourt, first test starter Frances Solia (Samoa) gave way to another English international in Tamsin Greenway.
While New Zealand started strongly, some tight work making their defensive zone more effective than it was on Monday, all too soon the cracks started to appear.
The problems seemed to once again stem from a lack of communication in transition -- working the ball downcourt and into the circle became more and more difficult as the quarter progressed until, with seven minutes until the break, the Silver Ferns took what appeared to be tactical injury break.
It made little difference, and the World 7 outscored the New Zealanders at better than two to one, as Brownfield and Dehn between them sunk 15 from 16 to give the World 7 a 15-7 lead after 15 minutes.
Aitken had no choice but to make wholesale changes.
Thompson was replaced by Tutaia, Liana Barrett-Chase was benched and George took over her duties at wing attack. Langman moved from wing defence to add drive at centre while newcomer Larrissa Willcox took the court at wing defence.
Things did not improve immediately, as the World 7 -- bolstered by some uncompromising defence from Sonia Mkoloma and Geva Mentor -- streaked away to a 22-10 midway through the spell.
The capacity Rotorua crowd was momentarily hushed, but bounced back to let fly with a wall of sound as the Silver Ferns finally found some backbone and fought back to sink the last five goals of the quarter to win the spell 9-8.
But the composite team of current internationals and former stars still looked well in control as they went into the break 23-16 ahead.
The news only got worse for the Silver Ferns in the third quarter, as the World 7 brought on Althea Byfield at wing defence and unveiled her 1.96m Jamaican teammate Romelda Aiken at goal shoot.
Williams and Henry lifted their game a notch, but Aiken's height in the circle provided the perfect target for Dehn and the quick-thinking World 7 midcourt marshalled by the always-impressive Natasha Chokljat and offsider Greenway.
The Silver Ferns went into the three-quarter break 30-39 down.
The combination of Tutaia and van Dyk managed 14 from 17, with van Dyk sinking nine from nine as the New Zealanders' midcourt zone picked up more turnover ball and linked in through to their circle with more fluency.
In a hectic final quarter, the Silver Ferns showed real grit to fight right to the whistle, but the World 7 kept their foot on the throat and extended their lead for a comprehensive win.
The damage from the first 15 minutes, however, was always going to be too widespread to repair and the Silver Ferns now go into the final test in Auckland on Saturday with only pride to play for.
Aitken faces a huge task lifting her side for that match and a looming series against Australia.
First thing will be solve why her personnel are struggling to unearth their best form.
"We felt there were some players out there who have played a lot together and they should have been able to lift," Aitken said.
"The fact they didn't showed the pressure the world team put on us but we've got to be able to cope with that.
"For the Silver Ferns team to lose by this much to anyone is of course worrying so we've got a lot of work to do, there's no doubt about it."
- NZPA