Netball: Australians reckon they have had better build-up than Ferns

By DANIEL GILHOOLY

Australia landed the first psychological blows on New Zealand yesterday as they moved closer to another transtasman final.

Both teams qualified top of their pool to earn automatic semifinal spots, but they did it in contrasting styles.

New Zealand had patchy moments in thumping Wales 81-23, and also faced the additional concern of niggling injuries to goal-shoot Irene van Dyk and goal-keep Vilimaina Davu.

The Silver Ferns then retired to the stand to watch a dominant Australian side down world No 3 Jamaica 60-33, a margin far bigger than had been predicted.

While the Silver Fern camp lamented their least-impressive performance at the Games, their great rivals were beaming.

They took the chance to mount an early offensive in the mind games stakes.

Australian shooter Sharelle McMahon said New Zealand were disadvantaged by the lop-sided draw, and coach Jill McIntosh noted that the tournament was unfolding in a similar pattern to the 1999 world championships.

After romping through their pool matches, New Zealand will probably face a semifinal against Jamaica on Saturday, providing Jamaica, as expected, beat Wales in a sudden-death qualification match today.

Australia will have an easier task against either England or South Africa.

McIntosh said her side had easily the preferable semifinal draw because the Jamaicans were a tough, physical team. Despite their convincing win yesterday, McIntosh's players were battered and bruised.

"I'd rather play [Jamaica] early as we did in the world champs and as we've done here," McIntosh said.

"I wouldn't like to meet them in the semifinal.

"New Zealand will be tough. They're playing well, but they still have to get past Jamaica."

McMahon, who bore the brunt of much of the Jamaican body-bumping, said it was like playing no other team.

"I don't know what's going through their minds sometimes." She thought it was an advantage to have played in a tougher group than the Silver Ferns, who have been untested and posted an average of 91 points a game.

"I think it's a really positive thing to have tough matches leading into the finals rather than just hitting it coming into those games," she said.

"New Zealand have probably had the easier side of the draw and they've been getting some big scores, but we're not reading too much into that."

The New Zealanders were clinical against Wales, but some unforced errors crept into their attacking game which had not been seen against Canada, Sri Lanka and England.

Donna Loffhagen shot 35 goals from just 38 attempts, Belinda Colling was nearly as accurate, nailing 23 from 27, and Daneka Wipiiti managed 23 from 35.

The match lacked the atmosphere of the 67-35 win over England on Tuesday, with a crowd of only about half the size in attendance.

Goal-keep Linda Vagana led a strong defensive effort, although New Zealand coach Ruth Aitken said she thought her players were still giving away too many penalties.

"Maybe they just thought it was going to happen a bit too easily, and maybe they underestimated that Welsh team," Aitken said.

She agreed it was their least impressive showing of the Games.

"It was pretty flat really."

She said van Dyk had suffered some swelling in the knee but it was not serious.

There was a little more concern over Davu's hamstring strain. "But we're confident that by Saturday she'll be jumping out of her skin again. Her resting was a precaution."

- NZPA

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