Netball: Temepara George ruled out of tonight's test

Temepara George

Silver Ferns centre Temepara George will not be taking part in tonight's one off test against South Africa in Auckland.

George failed a fitness test this morning, having injured a muscle in her side on the recent trip to Australia.

It is likely new cap Debbie White and back-up centre Laura Langman will take turns at the centre position.

The Ferns will not lack motivation when they take the court tonight.

Their shock 38-48 loss to Australia last Tuesday, just three days after they had eased past their trans-Tasman rivals 52-40, has made sure of that.

"The girls are pretty fired up," skipper Adine Wilson said yesterday.

"We're all looking forward to getting back out there on court, finding that sparkle again, because it was missing on Tuesday night. We just want to get out there to show what we can do."

Even without the added incentive provided by defeat, the Silver Ferns would have gone into the test as overwhelming favourites.

They have lost only once in 19 tests against the Proteas and that was in 1995, in a world championship semifinal where the opposition included a shooter by the name of Irene van Dyk.

Since then, New Zealand have won 15 straight and the result of their last test -- 74-37 at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March -- is a fair reflection of the margins between the teams in recent years.

The Proteas' most eye-catching player is likely to be 1.92m goal shoot Sindisiwe Gumede, who will be the tallest player on court.

But their lack of height on defence could mean they struggle to keep the New Zealand shooters, led by van Dyk, at bay.

Wilson said her memories of past tests were that South Africa always showed plenty of tenacity.

"They will never give up and they are usually very accurate shooting-wise," she said.

"They have a never-say-die attitude so we have to make sure we're at the top of our game."

The Silver Ferns reassembled yesterday after disbanding on their arrival back from Australia on Wednesday.

Wilson said the time in-between had been a chance for reflecting on why fortunes had changed so suddenly during the two tests against Australia.

"You can really critique yourself after a loss," she said.

"Sometimes after a win, you sort of think, 'Oh, I probably could have done that better but it didn't really impact'.

"This has really made us look at our preparation and it will be a good lesson for us."

The main feedback the players had received was how flat they had looked on court in the Sydney defeat.

Wilson ruled out any complacency on the part of the Silver Ferns, who had won 10 of the previous 11 trans-Tasman tests until then.

"It's not one big thing, just little bits and pieces we need to fix up," she said.

"For this one, we really want to get our sparkle back. We want our flow, we want to get that confidence back as a team."

South African coach Marlene Wagner said she was expecting New Zealand to be highly motivated.

"They will come out stronger now because they will want to prove that what happened was not on for them," she said.

"So we will just be very tough when we take the court and hopefully we can take them down a peg or two."

The Proteas arrived in Auckland on Saturday after a three-test series in Fiji, where next year's world championship will be held.

The series was shared, with Fiji beating South Africa for the first time in the opening contest.

That match was played a day after the tourists completed a 27-hour journey from Johannesburg and Wagner blamed travel fatigue for the result.

The second test was drawn, while the Proteas won the third.

- NEWSTALK ZB, NZPA