Netball: George seizes her chance

By RICHARD BOOCK

PALMERSTON NORTH - Anna Rowberry is facing an uphill battle to reclaim her starting berth after the Silver Ferns racked up another runaway win over Team Pasifika last night.

New Zealand's preferred wing-attack for the past couple of seasons seems to have paid the price for the recent 23-goal hammering by Australia in Newcastle.

She was initially watching from the bench last night as Pasifika were outclassed 64-38 at Palmerston North.

Starting in her place was Auckland mid-courter Temepara George acquitted herself well in transition and chose her passing options so wisely that it would be no surprise if she ran on against the World Seven tomorrow night as well.

Controlling and protecting possession has been an area of emphasis for the Ferns after the problems in the one-off test against Australia.

So George's ability to either lift the tempo or slow things down has brought a shade more stability to the attacking third.

As expected, New Zealand found the composite side far more cohesive opponents second time around, and were actually outpointed 14-13 in the second quarter as Pasifika's shooters drilled all but one of their 15 attempts.

The hosts were comfortably ahead 20-7 after the first quarter and carried a 33-21 lead into halftime before romping out to a 49-28 advantage at the three-quarter mark.

Silver Ferns coach Yvonne Willering resisted any temptation to tinker with her lineup.

She started with Irene van Dyk and Adine Harper in the shooting circle, George, Julie Seymour and Lesley Nicol in the mid-court, and Bernice Mene and Belinda Charteris in the defensive circle.

Her only change was to bring Rowberry on at halftime.

But otherwise she seemed happy to allow the players to hone their combinations, especially at the much-altered attack end, where van Dyk and Harper showed some astonishing understanding given their brief time together.

Harper, the New Zealand Under-21 captain, looks a star in the making and demonstrated excellent vision and shooting range last night, nailing 11 from 13 in the first quarter and turning in an impressive positional game.

Urged on by a far more vocal Mene, New Zealand only occasionally lost momentum during the 60 minutes and found better timing in both attack and defence, despite the improvement in the opposition.

Pasifika competed for more sustained periods than they did in Auckland on Tuesday night, particularly on attack, but had no answer to the Ferns' superior team-work and were effectively out of the game after 15 minutes.

For all that, goal-shoot Monika Gabriel and goal-attack Teresa Tairi gave New Zealand plenty to think about in the second quarter when they made the most of their erratic possession.

And captain Vilimaina Davu led another spirited defensive effort, ending the game with a signature one-handed intercept.

The World Seven beat NZ under-21 55-43 in Wellington last night, having won 50-36 the previous evening, to complete their preparation for Saturday's opening international.