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In true Kiwi tradition, Anna Ferguson is taking her Scottish teammates home for dinner. Home is a farm in Te Awamutu, where her mother and sister will be preparing a roast to beef them up for the world championships.
The former Waikato teacher and New Zealand under-21 player, now the regular wing defence in the Scotland side, took the team to her favourite childhood holiday spot at the foot of Mt Maunganui yesterday as part of its final preparation for next week's world tournament in Auckland.
She's also booked out her hometown motel, and organised a couple of games against her old teams to get Scotland in the right frame of mind.
Ranked 15th in the world, Scotland have come to New Zealand aiming for the quarter-finals, or at least, making the top 10. Their pool is arguably the toughest in the forthcoming tournament - with previous winners Australia and Trinidad & Tobago, and a capable Samoa side.
Ferguson, one of two New Zealanders in the line-up, is one of the few players happy that the tournament was delayed four months and moved to her country of birth. She underwent knee reconstruction surgery in February and took the court again last month.
Ferguson had a promising netball career at home in New Zealand: chosen in the New Zealand under-21 squad in 2000, she played for the Cometz in the national league, and Waikato and North Harbour in the national provincial championships.
But in 2003, she moved to Glasgow with her fiance, former Northland and Auckland Blues halfback Sam Pinder, contracted to play rugby with the Glasgow Warriors.
An internet search for local netball clubs turned up Scotstoun, where a number of the Scottish national side played.
Those players encouraged Ferguson to trial for Scotland's 2004 test series against South Africa, and to her surprise, she was selected to play her first international.
"As a kid coming through the grades, I had it in the back of my mind to one day play for my country. I didn't expect it to be Scotland," she said.
"There are a couple of Kiwis and a couple of Australians in the side, so we've shared a bit of our knowledge and they've really appreciated it."
Ferguson will be staying on in the west coast of Scotland until at least 2009 - Pinder, who played two tests for the Scottish rugby team last year, has signed on for another two seasons with the Glasgow Warriors.
"We're settled there, and the change of lifestyle is great. But I miss New Zealand netball," she admitted.
The other New Zealander in the team, Claire Cooper, said it felt weird to be playing a world championship at home, but in the navy and white strip.
A circle defender who grew up in Levin and played for Wellington B and Canterbury B, Cooper had retired from netball when she moved to Glasgow with her rugby-playing partner, former Canterbury lock Dan Turner. Ferguson convinced her to play again.
