Hopes fade as Ferns wilt
Nico Rosberg
The Silver Ferns have all but conceded that rescuing the Constellation Cup series in Australia this week is beyond them.
After their 17-goal loss in Thursday’s opener in Invercargill, the New Zealand side must win test two in Melbourne on Wednesday night to keep the series alive.
If the four-test series is squared, the overall winner will be decided by goal average. So New Zealand likely need to win the remaining three games in Melbourne, Sydney (Saturday) and Auckland (next Wednesday) to wrench the trophy from the Diamonds’ grasp.
Given Lisa Alexander’s Australian side have won the past six matches against their transtasman rivals — the most recent by 18 and 17 goals — few would back the Ferns to pull off a three-game winning run.
But worryingly, in a sign of the dwindling confidence in the camp, there also seems to be an acceptance from the players that the series is already gone.
Silver Ferns shooter Cathrine Latu said the focus for her side is on building depth and increasing their line-up options ahead of next year’s World Cup in Sydney.
“I think there is a bigger picture, even though a win — or a couple of wins — would be very, very nice and set us up well for the England series, we need to look at the long term and it’s that World Cup that we want. So we need to grow our depth and get people on to experience what it is like to play against Australia,” she said.
Latu’s thoughts were reiterated by midcourter Liana Leota.
“I do believe we [can beat Australia] and maybe starting well would help grow that confidence. But we need to build depth and we need to use this as a growing phase to look more to world champs.”
If it’s all sounding rather familiar, that’s because the Silver Ferns were in a similar position in last year’s Constellation Cup. Trying to bed down new midcourt combinations, the New Zealand side lost the 2013 series 4-1 after winning the opening test in Invercargill.
The Ferns also used the series to broaden their shooting options, exposing Latu to the intensity of transtasman tests — a move that proved vital after Irene van Dyk announced her retirement from international netball just six weeks out from this year’s Commonwealth Games, ending a near 15-year reign in the New Zealand shooting circle.
During last year’s series, Waimarama Taumaunu explained it was a case of needing to go through short-term pain for long-term gain as they looked ahead to two pinnacle events within 12 months — the Glasgow Games and the 2015 World Cup. But it appears it has been Australia making all the gains.
While the Kiwi side have been struck by injuries in the shooting end — an area they could least afford it in the wake of van Dyk’s retirement — as last Thursday’s opening test proved, there is now quite some distance between the two teams.
Some Australian newspapers have even theorised that England are now the Diamonds’ closest rivals, after Australia scraped past the English by only one goal during pool play at the Commonwealth Games.
While it has yet to be proven if there is a new pecking order in world netball, one thing is clear — Australia’s six-game winning streak against the Ferns looks set to continue for some time yet.