Netball: Silver Ferns tick off another win

Silver Ferns Temepara George in action during the netball match between the Silver Ferns and Wales tonight. Photo / Michael Bradley

Silver Ferns 91
Wales 21

The smile has returned to Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken's face after her side ran riot against Wales in their second pool play match of the world championships.

A blistering opening half saw the Ferns race to a brilliant 70-goal win over the hapless Welsh side.

"It made my day quite frankly," said Aitken, who had endured a difficult 24 hours after her son Michael's drunken antics on a Jetstar flight were made public.

The Silver Ferns produced what Aitken described as one of the best quarters of netball she's seen from her side in the opening spell, putting on a stunning 28-2 scoring spree.

Leading 50-7 at halftime, it was looking as though the Silver Ferns were a chance of cracking the ton. But the scoring dried up somewhat in the second half with New Zealand running their most inexperienced attack line, with Liana Leota (Centre), Anna Thompson (WA), Maria Tutaia (GA) and Paula Griffin (GS) combining for the final 30 minutes.

But New Zealand still managed to rack up their highest score against Wales in their 13 meetings, eclipsing the 84 goals Lois Muir's 1987 team set in Glasgow on their way to the world title.

After leaving the court with an ankle twinge in Monday's opening win over Fiji, supershooter Tutaia had a solid 30 minutes at goal attack last night. Tutaia probably didn't have the impact off the bench she would have desired as she initially struggled to find her confidence and range - shooting just three from five in the third quarter.

But she appeared to be moving well, playing the game at full pace. And once she began to improve her combination with Griffin in the fourth quarter, the Ferns picked up their scoring rate again.

It was clear early on that Wales were in for a long night when it took five minutes for them to get their first goal. Their second goal didn't come until there was just one minute of play left on the clock for the first quarter.

By that stage New Zealand had already racked up 28 goals, scoring at a rate of nearly two goals a minute.

The defensive duo of Casey Williams and Katrina Grant - who were paired together for the first half - won a wealth of possession for their side at the back.

Two early turnovers aside, the Ferns barely put a foot wrong on attack either, setting a searing pace in the first 30 minutes. By halftime New Zealand had already thrown 400 passes - in a normal game they will make about 500 - as Temepara George and Laura Langman ran rings around their opposition in midcourt. Irene van Dyk oozed confidence as she displayed her range of movement, even vacating her playground under the post to slot a few long bombs.

The 70-goal loss will be a huge blow for Wales, who had been showing strong signs of improvement in the lead-up to the tournament.

The Welsh side, who are coached by Kiwi Melissa Hyndman, have improved greatly over the past 18 months - as evidenced by Monday night's battling performance against the eighth-ranked Trinidad and Tobago. They were narrowly beaten 51-48 by the Calypso Girls in the closest match of the tournament thus far.

Under Hyndman's tutelage Wales have jumped five places up the world rankings - from 19th to 14th - and they are targeting further improvement in Singapore.

Wales will meet Fiji in tomorrow's final pool play match in what will be a grudge match for Hyndman, the former Fijian coach. Hyndman was axed as coach of Fiji and left thousands of dollars out of pocket after falling out with the Fiji Netball executive.

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In last night's other matches, England beat Barbados 74-42 and Jamaica defeated Botswana 74-23. Australia were playing the later game Northern Ireland.