Ferns brace for Aussie backlash

Noeline Taurua’s expecting a reaction from Australia as the Constellation Cup goes down to the wire in Wellington.

While the Silver Ferns’ surprise 55-44 victory against the Diamonds has given them selfbelief and kept them in the hunt heading into tonight’s decider, the New Zealand coach believes the final game of the series will be the tightest yet.

‘‘They probably weren’t happy with the performance they put out but also why they’re No 1 is because they can back things up and be consistent,’’ Taurua said of Australia. ‘‘From my end it’s why it’s more exciting for us because I know they will come out with their A-game.’’

A tight game won’t help the Silver Ferns who need a 14-goal winning margin to take the Constellation Cup. But although the dream scenario is to beat the Diamonds by plenty and get their hands on some silverware, Taurua said she would be satisfied with a competitive showing in their final outing of 2018.

After the year they’ve that’s understandable.

‘‘We’ve got a lot of confidence in what we’re doing, our structures and our strategies, knowing that it does work. But now it’s being able to back ourselves up and put a performance out there that we are proud of.

‘‘Obviously if we won the cup we’ll be knocking each other on the heads to see if it’s actually real. But we know what the big picture is, where we need to head to with the worlds in July and incremental steps are important in terms of what it needs to look like long-term.’’

After scoring 40 from 41 in a standout individual performance on Sunday, Maria Folau will once again don the goal shoot bib in what is expected to be an unchanged starting lineup.

‘‘She’s been a consistent performer for us, aside from the first test and against England, but her stats have been at least 90s or high 80s and with her going back to goal shoot we can get more ball to her and her volume has increased,’’ Taurua said.

‘‘She provides the backbone in that shooting end and she’s very experienced and mature, but definitely can shoot.’’

Tonight’s game will be played in front of a sellout crowd of 3200 spectators at TSB Arena, with the last of the remaining tickets snapped up by eager fans as early as Monday afternoon. had,