Ferns suffer gut wrenching defeat

Image courtesy of Zimbio.com

The Silver Ferns have gone down again to the Australian Diamonds, unable to finish the series with a win but were gallant in there fight back to eventually go down by one lonely goal 50-49 in Canberra.

Silver Ferns starting lineup

GS - Latu

GA - Tutaia 

WA - Francois

C - Langman

WD - Henry

GD - Kopua

GK - De Bruin

Australian Diamonds starting lineup

GS - Thwaites

GA - Medhurst

WA - Green

C - Browne

WD - Hallinan

GD - Chatfield

GK - Geitz

For the second test in a row Silver Ferns coach Waimarama Taumaunu gave Cat Latu the starting GS bib and kept test veteran Irene Van Dyk on the bench to see out the series. Wai also backed the previous performance's by Shannon Francois in the WA position, and gave her the start.

Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander, tinkered with her lineup to start the match with Caitlin Thwaites given her shot in the GS bib while Madison Browne started in the C position with Diamonds Vice Captain Kim Green in the WA bib.

The opening spell was scrappy from both teams as they adjusted to an unfamiliar lineup with the Diamonds taking the lead in the quarter 13-10. 

As we saw in the previous test matches silly unforced errors were costing the Ferns, with Tutaia called early in the first quarter for a step, giving the Australian's the chance of an early lead as well as conceding 14 penalties in the first spell compared to the Australian's 9.

Latu and Tutaia continued to grow their combination at the international level and at times were getting the better of Geitz and Chatfield, however a couple of times they were guilty of a short pass with the outside feeders and gave valuable possession back to the Aussies. 

The Ferns put on a better second quarter, winning it 16-10 and were able to disrupt the Australian attack and gain, however once again a massive inconsistency with the umpires, the penalty count from the ferns went from 14 in the first quarter to only 3 for the 2nd quarter. Something both teams need to work on adjusting to for further matches.

Madison Browne is not known for playing a lot of games at Centre and was not putting as much defensive pressure on Langman as young Kim Ravallion did in the previous test matches, allowing Langman more room on attack and having better flow into the shooters.

One of the biggest concerns for Wai is the high turnover rate, particularly from Maria Tutaia; 12 in a game against Australia is well below her usual standards, contributing to the team's 31 turnover total compared to the Diamonds 21.

Throughout the game we saw better patches of attack from the Ferns and it can easily be named the best test of the Australian leg of the competition, however falling to grasp the win in the final seconds of the game will certainly be a bitter pill to swallow. It can be said that they probably deserved to win this game with the better performance but execution let them down. No doubt a vital lesson going forward towards defending their Commonwealth Games title next year. 

The use of Shannon Francois and Cat Latu against Australia, has given the girls invaluable game time towards future matches and can be seen as one of the positives in an unfortunate series for our girls.

Next up for both teams is a series each against the Malawi Queens before turning their attention to Fast 5 in November. The international season is well from over!

What did you think of the match and the series?