Netball: Silver Ferns finish strong after 'fart-arsing around' in opening quarter

Silver Ferns head coach Dame Noeline Taurua. Photo / Getty

The Silver Ferns swept the final three quarters to prevail 58-47 in their series opener against the Aotearoa men in Wellington last night on the back of some direct advice from coach Dame Noeline Taurua.

After the first quarter in her team huddle, Taurua was captured by the Sky Sport microphone saying the side were 'fart-arsing around' in one section of the court. The Ferns had to overcome a poor first quarter which they lost 16-9.

"You should be behind them because at the moment they're quite high. But we're fart-arsing around here and then we're going in and it's taking us too slow to get in," Taurua said.

After the game, Taurua said they mixed some execution in the victory.

"We probably got caught in regards to coming off our technique too fast and too soon but we were able to settle," she said.

"There is areas that I know we can improve on. I think it's good to get the win but we know it's about ourselves and the execution, the strategy but also our preparation going into a Commonwealth Games. So good to get out there, definite, but also some clear patterns that I think we probably need to address and try and work on."

"There were times that we did some really good things. I think maybe the last eight minutes there was some beautiful execution but sometimes it takes us a long time so we've got to be prepared to do the grind at the beginning," she added.

Taurua said the quick turnaround for tonight's second game was good preparation for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham next July.

"For us in our environment it's a lot of repetition of doing the same thing. We'll go back and look at the video, talk through with individuals and see what they possibly can do but this is probably the scenario we work on going into a Commonwealth Games or a Worlds, when we go back-to-back-to-back. So if anything it's really good for us to experience this stuff so we get into our routines so we can review and get ourselves ready for the next day," she said.

Silver Fern goal shoot Grace Nweke claps the fans after their win over the New Zealand men. Photosport

The defensive duo of Kelly Jury and Karin Burger cleaned up the mess of the poor shooting performance – with the Silver Ferns converting on less than 70 per cent of their attempts at goal.

The injection of shooter Grace Nweke proved crucial after the starting shooting duo of Maia Wilson and Te Paea Selby-Rickit were pulled early on.

Nweke finished with 39 from 44 attempts.

"Grace had a great game out there. Was really stable and really strong underneath the men," Taurua said after the win.