World champions New Zealand tonight justified their tag as favourites by defeating Australia 54-45 in a scrappy first netball test in Christchurch tonight.
Before a near capacity crowd at the Westpac Centre, the Silver Ferns backed up their win in the world championship final in Jamaica last July, the last time the fierce rivals met.
However, both teams will want to cut down their error rate in the second test in Palmerston North on Friday night.
New Zealand lost the first quarter 16-14, but won the three others 15-11, 12-11 and 13-7.
New Zealand coach Ruth Aitken produced no surprises with her starting line-up, beginning with the same seven that began the world tournament decider 11 months ago.
Australian coach Norma Plummer, as expected, gave defender Demelza Fellowes her first cap, partnering her with skipper and goalkeep Liz Ellis.
The pair swapped late in the second quarter with Fellowes marking New Zealand goal shoot Irene van Dyk.
In attack, she opted for the experience of Sharelle McMahon and Cynna Neele, interchanging them at goal shoot and goal attack.
Despite the victory, Aitken was not entirely happy with the performance.
"It was a bit messy and we turned the ball over too often."
Aitken's sentiments were echoed by Rowberry, who thought the team could have started better after conceding early goals in the first quarter.
"We'll want to sharpen up that flow on attack as it was a little hesitant through the mid-court.
"We just needed to let the ball go and when we did we had success."
Rowberry's counterpart, Liz Ellis, felt her teams' inexperience cost them the match.
"A lot of people thought at home we wouldn't go so well. We proved that cool heads didn't prevail tonight, but the only way you get experience is to keep putting people on the court."
Both teams took time to settle and two Australian errors leading to turnovers allowed the New Zealanders to jump to an early lead, but the visitors came back to edge ahead after the first quarter.
The Australian defensive line stuck to their task well to put pressure on the feeding into van Dyk and goal attack Belinda Colling, with space in the goal circle tight.
In the second quarter, van Dyk began to come into her own, helped by improved passing to her outside hand, while goal defence Sheryl Scanlan pulled off some athletic intercepts at the other end of the court.
Scanlan was later named player of the match.
A five-goal surge took the Silver Ferns into a 26-21 lead midway through the second quarter for the first real break in the match.
But both teams continued to struggle for rhythm, with loose passes from the New Zealand midcourt allowing McMahon and Neele to pull Australia back to just 29-27 behind at halftime.
Aitken reshuffled her line-up for the third quarter, taking off her two most experienced players, skipper Anna Rowberry and Lesley Nicol, New Zealand's most-capped player making her 104th test appearance.
National Bank Cup player of the series Adine Harper came on at wing attack for Rowberry, while recalled Silver Fern Victoria Edward took the wing defence bib from Nicol.
New Zealand still searched for fluency through the court, and Nicol returned for the final quarter.
With Australia's shooting falling away, Plummer gave a test debut to shooter Kristen Heinrich for McMahon over the final 15 minutes, while introducing Susan Meaney at centre in place of Natasha Chokljat.
But the final period proved New Zealand's most productive and they secured the match by a comfortable margin.
- NZPA
Netball: Silver Ferns down Australia in scrappy encounter
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.