Liana Leota of New Zealand catches the ball during the International netball Test match between the New Zealand Silver Ferns and England. Photo / Getty Images.
Herald netball writer Dana Johannsen and RadioSport's Rikki Swannell answer three key questions following the Ferns' 42-38 loss to England last night.
Was this a better performance than the Ferns' Constellation Cup showings or worse?
Dana Johannsen: The performance was probably better than their Constellation Cup outings, yet it somehow
seems worse. The English line-up are an experienced group and have genuine world class talent, but the Ferns should never have got themselves in the position where they were 10 goals down to the visitors. It was shooting accuracy that most let the Ferns down - 42 goals should have been a defendable total, but you can't win games when you're only shooting at 62 per cent.
Rikki Swannell: Worse. England is very good side with some absolutely world class players, but they're not Australia. England led by 10 goals at one point and nearly bottled it, but really they were in control for the vast majority of the match and this was played in Rotorua not Rotherham. That, to me, makes it worse from a New Zealand perspective. It was a scrappy match, blighted by some weird/terrible umpiring decisions, but with shooting like that the Ferns only have themselves to blame.
Are the Ferns shooting woes a coaching problem or personnel problem?
