Netball: Ferns untroubled to reach crunch time

By Richard Boock

CHRISTCHURCH - It might have taken 11 days and 126 games to get here, but the hour of reckoning has finally arrived for the Silver Ferns' world championship campaign.

Last night's slightly hollow 81-38 win over Fiji has set up a massive semi-final showdown this evening against Jamaica, who were yesterday untroubled in beating the Cook Islands to progress through to the final four.

Defending champions Australia, having accounted for Trinidad and Tobago without raising too much of a sweat, are favoured to sweep aside England on the other side of the draw.

England, the fourth seeds, ended the championship hopes of South Africa in an epic quarter-final contest last night.

But the hosts are offered no such assurances. Largely untested so far, New Zealand stride into the last two days of the championships with the most consistent defence of the tournament and one of the best transition games, but with a major question-mark hanging over their performance in the goal-shooting circle - despite the stream of runaway wins.

For all the blow-outs this week, the Silver Ferns have lagged behind their quarter-final rivals in terms of converting possession, and can only expect a more difficult time tonight when they come up against a Jamaican defence quickly gaining in notoriety.

Shooters Donna Loffhagen, Belinda Colling and Teresa Tairi have struggled for rhythm while the ankle injury to the ever-improving Adine Harper has caused more concern, particularly because their semi-final opponents have shot the lights out since arriving, and have their own shooting-machine in Elaine Davis.

Statistically speaking, the Silver Ferns' overall shooting success ranked in 13th place before last night's game, not only behind South Africa (87.6 per cent), Jamaica (87.2) and Australia (81.6), but also teams such as Malaysia, Zambia, Malawi and Singapore.

And while Davis has spearheaded Jamaica's campaign with a dazzling 88.4 per cent conversion rate, New Zealand's best shooter has been Donna Loffhagen with 79.7 per cent, (ranked 19th), followed by Colling's 75 per cent (27th) and Tairi's 72.5 per cent (31st).

The Silver Ferns again looked all class during another head-shaking mismatch last night, but can expect a far more intense workout against the Jamaicans, whose tight marking - if not stopping their transition game - will at the very least slow it down.

Another feature of the semi-final match should be the contrasting styles of defence, with New Zealand's suffocating zone proving so far impregnable, and Jamaica's one-on-one style making its own impact in more ways than one.

The Silver Ferns were in command throughout the court against the Fijians, the 20-9 opening quarter lead stretching out to 42-17 at halftime and 64-24 at the three-quarter mark, before easing up a fraction down the home stretch.

Jamaica readied themselves for tonight's match with a 76-46 win over the Cook Islands.

Australia swamped Trinidad and Tobago 87-34, while England came back from a first-half deficit to snatch a thrilling 44-42 win over South Africa.

The game wasn't a great spectacle although the scores see-sawed throughout, with the teams never separated by more than three goals.

South Africa led 13-10 at the end of the first quarter; England 23-20 at halftime and South Africa 35-32 at the three-quarter break. However, England fought back to level the scores 10 minutes into the final quarter, then went ahead with less than four minutes to play.

In other top 16 matches, Malawi beat Canada 55-38, Samoa dealt to Northern Ireland 75-38, Barbados beat the United States 74-47, and Singapore outlasted Wales 63-49.