Silver Ferns looking for a simple boost
Try and imagine a time when a win over South Africa would be considered a boost for New Zealand netball.
Well, he we are. Tonight in Tauranga, the Silver Ferns will aim to halt a fourmatch losing streak when they meet South Africa.
Victory should come – New Zealand have lost only once in 31 matches with the Proteas; at the 1995 world championships when Irene van Dyk was playing for South Africa.
But such has been New Zealand’s woes of late – three consecutive losses at the Commonwealth Games in April followed by Saturday’s record defeat to England – that there’s no castiron guarantee they’ll see off their Norma Plummer-coached rivals who lost 61-44 to Australia in the Quad Series opener.
Captain Laura Langman said she and her troops simply need to focus on how they play, rather than the final score.
‘‘The result takes care of itself. ‘‘For me, what’s more important is putting out a consistent product. We’ve been found wanting in that department for a few years now,’’ Langman said, noting there were some positive aspects of the 52-39 defeat to England in which New Zealand’s shooters struggled and the hosts lost touch on the scoreboard in the final quarter.
‘‘What was glaringly obvious was we have to stop those errors; stop those low moments going so low,’’ Langman said.
‘‘We’ve had some really frank conversations to address that.’’
Langman acknowledged the side needed to make a step-up from the standard of the domestic competition.
‘‘We’ve really got to get back in that mindset when we’re playing other teams – we can’t get away with what we may get away with when we just play the Kiwi style.
‘‘We probably need to move in that space a lot quicker.
‘‘And role clarity – we’ve really looked into that closely over the last 24 hours and that looked really good today at training.’’
Langman said she really enjoyed her return to international netball, ‘‘despite what the scoreboard said’’.
‘‘It was great for me to get a feel of where I’m at and where I want to go to over these next two days.’’
The 32-year-old sees her chief role as captain to play well.
‘‘To do my job on court – that’s whether I’m at wing d or centre – and to be that glue in the team in terms of communication and controlling that tempo.’’
After Ameliaranne Ekenasio and Maria Folau struggled with their shooting on Saturday,
‘‘For me, what’s more important is putting out a consistent product.’’
teenage goal shoot Aliyah Dunn may make her debut tonight, with fellow rookies Elisapeta Toeava and Karin Burger expected to improve on their nervous first outings in the loss to the Commonwealth Games champions.
South Africa looked capable of pulling of a huge upset on Saturday when their understrength side trailed by just four points at halftime against the Diamonds, only to lose touch in the second half after Australia made a number of personnel changes.
Australia will meet England in Newcastle tomorrow before the Quad Series concludes with another double-header on Sunday in Melbourne, with the Ferns up against the hosts and England taking on South Africa.