Below-par Ferns offer no excuses

Silver Ferns coach Janine Southby insists her side’s confidence hasn’t taken a hiding after consecutive Constellation Cup losses within four days.

Australia have all but retained the silverware after going up 2-0 in the best of four series with a 60-52 victory in the second test in Christchurch yesterday.

Any optimism New Zealand gained after the 57-47 win over the Diamonds in last month’s Quad Series decider in Invercargill has quickly disappeared after another error-ridden display.

The Silver Ferns don’t have long to regroup with the series shifting to Australia for game three in Adelaide on Wednesday and the final match in Sydney on Saturday.

Australia are virtually guaranteed of retaining the annual Constellation Cup for the fifth straight year, leaving Southby and her coaching staff with plenty to ponder.

Poor through-court defence and an inability to convert defensive gains into goals stung the Silver Ferns. They were also guilty of allowing Australia to leap out to an eight-goal advantage by the third quarter.

‘‘We know we’ve let ourselves down and we’re the first people to say that. We don’t hide behind anything and we’re not making excuses out there. It’s not good enough,’’ Southby said.

‘‘I think for us, it’s about sticking to what we know we do really well and doing it a whole lot better.’’

After a promising beginning, where they led 9-5 in the opening term, mistakes crept into the Silver Ferns’ play.

Australia took a 29-26 advantage into the main break and an accurate start to the third term saw their lead extend to eight (44-36), which set off alarm bells for New Zealand.

Against a side of Australia’s quality, Southby said they couldn’t afford to keep falling off the pace, which was leaving them too much ground to make up.

‘‘I thought we had opportunities to [pull it back] and again at critical moments we didn’t do what we talked about and said we were going to do. No excuses. It’s just not good enough at this level.’’

After a fine job containing the Australian midcourt and shooting star Caitlin Bassett in the Quad Series decider, the Silver Ferns have fallen back into bad habits. They conceded 60 goals, including 15 or more in three separate quarters, which won’t get it done at this level.