KEY POINTS:
Julie Seymour will fly to England with the Silver Ferns today, still grieving the loss of her mother.
The former New Zealand captain and mother-of-three missed yesterday's National Bank Cup match with her Flames team to be with her family before joining the Ferns last night. Her mother's
funeral was last Thursday and was attended by many of her New Zealand and Flames teammates.
"Mentally and physically she's shattered, but she really wants to go," Flames coach Marg Foster said yesterday. "That's why it was important she stayed home today, to spend time with her family, before she leaves."
When the Ferns assembled in Auckland last night, there were no serious injury worries among the 14 touring players.
Casey Williams came through her first full game for the Magic after aggravating an old knee injury three weeks ago, having flown through a fitness test during the week.
Jodi Te Huna showed no signs of favouring her reconstructed knee in a stunning effort for the Rebels - shooting 36 from 39 (92 per cent) against the Sting. All four New Zealand shooters were on the mark yesterday - all shooting at least 80 per cent.
The only scare yesterday was Leana de Bruin's falling heavily on her shoulder and wrist, after a collision with teammate Vili Davu, in the Force-Flames match, but she continued through the game without problem.
Silver Ferns assistant coach Leigh Gibbs said the players would be nurtured with massages and a pool session this morning before the long flight to England.
"We have to make sure they don't arrive overtired, because the tour is on quite a tight schedule," said Gibbs.
The Ferns will play a series of practise matches in Bath this week, including one against Wales - a team they will meet in pool play at the world championships in November.
The warm-up games have been arranged by former New Zealand coach Lyn Gunson, who runs an English netball programme in Bath.
The Ferns then travel to Manchester for their first test of the quadrangular series - against Australia - next Monday (NZ time), where England will play England A. They will play three internationals over six days.
"We want to put a stake in the ground on this tour," Gibbs said.
"We have to measure where Australia and England are at, and we want to look at our combinations and our game plan development for November."
England Tour
* May 14: Silver Ferns v England, Manchester (Live 6.45am TVOne).
* May 16: Silver Ferns v Australia, Birmingham (Live 6.45am TVOne).
* May 18: Silver Ferns v England A, London.
