Taurua sees Langman as perfect captain for worlds bid
Silver Ferns coach Noeline Taurua sees Laura Langman as the perfect person to lead the team to the Netball World Cup in England.
The veteran midcourter maintained her captaincy portfolio for the Northern Quad Series tournament, which starts today, after being reinstated by players and management until after the World Cup in July.
Langman was first named captain late last year when Taurua took over the Silver Ferns. Former skipper Casey Kopua will be Langman’s vicecaptain, but only for this tournament.
Taurua says the thing that stands out about Langman is she’s always committed to the cause.
“Like always I know that Laura will maintain the standards if not push it as much as she can both on and off the court. She represents the silver fern really well and to have her supported by Casey Kopua as well is massive for us as a group.
“We’ve got a lot of experience and firepower and that’s going to be of value to us as a Silver Ferns group.”
Langman and Kopua have 249 caps between them and both will make their fourth World Cup appearances this year.
Taurua said Langman is on a mission to claim a World Cup title.
“With Laura what always shines out is she’s fully committed to the
With Laura what always shines out is she’s fully committed to the cause and she’ll do whatever she needs to do . . . to win. Noeline Taurua, Silver Ferns coach
cause and she’ll do whatever she needs to do to be able to win and to be a better athlete and perform. She’s very dedicated to our sport and focused on winning the World Cup.
“She’s a person on a mission. The great thing with Casey coming in is they are both complimentary in
regards to personality. As a combination they are fantastic together.”
The Silver Ferns play England this morning in Liverpool in their first match of the Quad Series.
They’ll be looking to make a strong statement in a World Cup year after a disappointing 2018 where they won eight of 21 tests.
England coach Tracey Neville told the Telegraph her side have plenty of confidence ahead of their opening clash against the Silver Ferns.
“We’ve beaten New Zealand five of the last eight times we’ve played them,” said Neville. “Beating a team over a repeated time builds confidence and it did with England.
“But I don’t think you can ever rest on your laurels. They have had a big turnaround, employed a new coach and got a new team. Sunday will be a really tough game.”
England’s dramatic last-second Commonwealth win last April marked a turning point in a sport dominated for decades by Australia and New Zealand.
England briefly rose to second in the world rankings behind Australia, although a series defeat for an England development team in Jamaica at the end of the year saw New Zealand reclaim that second spot, with Jamaica and England sharing No 3 beneath them.