Silver Ferns into final after strolling to win over hapless Fiji

AUCKLAND: The Silver Ferns eased past Fiji in their third fixture of the Taini Jamison Trophy to claim a lopsided 8827 victory.

Ranked 12th in the world, Fiji has proved to being the weakest team of this year’s fourteam tournament.

It was thrashed by both Malawi and Jamaica in its first two fixtures of the series, and has never beaten the Silver Ferns.

Therefore, the Ferns should not be too impressed with last night’s win, especially following their shock defeat to Jamaica on Thursday night.

Jamaica claimed a historic win over New Zealand, 5951, in a tough and physical match, in which the Ferns struggled to keep up with their feisty and confident play.

Comparatively, Fiji simply could not compete with New Zealand, whose poor start was never going to deny it a massive margin of victory.

The Ferns opened the first quarter with sloppy and errorridden play, giving Fiji an extremely brief taste of success.

Maria Folau, who sat out Thursday night’s game due to a knee complaint, was back in the circle, joined by Ameliaranne Ekenasio. The usually strong shooting duo struggled to score in the first two quarters and was only able to hit at a 79% clip.

Fortunately, the Ferns quickly picked up their pace in both attack and defence, soaring to a 25point lead by halftime.

Defender Kayla Cullen was welcomed back in the action for threequarters of the match. After suffering a knee injury, Cullen was not expected to take part in the fourday series at all.

However, the 26yearold made a swift recovery to return to the squad, and comfortably controlled the centre court while moving the ball swiftly from defence to attack.

Newcomer Michaela SokolichBeatson made her second appearance for the Silver Ferns at goal defence in the third quarter, relieving Katrina Grant, who had so far played the entire series.

SokolichBeatson defended alongside the feisty Temalisi Fakahokotau to increse the pressure on Fijian shooters Maliana Rusivakula and Alesi Paul, who increasingly struggled to score.

At the other end, Ekenasio poured in 56 goals from 70 attempts, as the Ferns won the second half 4711, to take the 61goal win.

Earlier in the evening, Jamaica claimed its third straight victory of the series, beating Malawi 6655.

The Silver Ferns will now face Jamaica in the final this afternoon. — NZME