Wins over Australia for the Kiwis and Silver Ferns backed up by the Breakers sinking Melbourne United caps off a stellar weekend for New Zealand Sport
The Silver Ferns may have ticked off a win against the Australian Diamonds but the improved national side now face an even bigger challenge – backing it up.
Dominating the court in yesterday's third Constellation Cup test match at Hamilton's Claudelands Arena, the Ferns put an end to their nine-match skid against the Diamonds to stun the World Champions with a decisive 11-goal victory.
Not allowing the Diamonds to get ahead at any stage of the transtasman clash, the Ferns soared to their first significantly positive result since their disastrous Commonwealth Games campaign - showcasing exciting potential under the reign of new head coach Noeline Taurua.
However, it wasn't all smiles after the clash from both Taurua and Silver Ferns captain Laura Langman with the pair well aware of the challenge ahead and improvements that need to be made.
The Silver Ferns' 11-goal win was aided by a superb shooting performance from Maria Folau. Photo / Photosport
Although delighted to have finally claimed the elusive win, Langman was wary of the Silver Ferns' 'one-hit wonder' reputation and said the final test on Thursday was an opportunity for the new-look side to prove it wrong.
"It's an opportunity for us to put a stake in the ground and get a measure of what we need to do to be consistent," Langman said. "The Silver Ferns have been renowned for being one-hit wonders and that's certainly something we want to address in the group.
"For me, the win, I would describe it as reinforcement and an opportunity to back it up."
Similarly, Taurua was quick to identify areas she wanted to address deeming that the win was far from a solid 60-minute performance - despite how things looked on the surface.
"The win will give us huge self-belief knowing that we can foot it with the Australians but also you know your back to business," Taurua said. "I think it's a great testing for us that we don't get carried away with ourselves and that we can still go through the same processes and once again foot it in test four.
Noeline Taurua believed there were still plenty of areas the Silver Ferns needed to improve. Photo / Photosport
"I don't know that things are on track at this stage, it's too early to call, I think it does show that the things we are doing off court, things about strategy, our team meetings, all the detail underneath, it does work.
"It is consistency, being able to back up from what we did previously ... I'm absolutely rapt that we're still in the game but we've got to be able to put the deeds out on court and put it into action and time will tell whether we can back ourselves up."
Sunday's result put the Silver Ferns back in contention for the Constellation Cup but they will need to deliver at least a massive 14-goal win on Thursday night to pull it off.
The Ferns travel to Wellington today in preparation for what will need to be an all-or-nothing performance as they seek to claim the title for the first time since 2012.
