Netball: Skipper's victory speech falls flat

By Suzanne McFadden

Captain fantastic Belinda Colling missed half the Silver Ferns' victory party, stuck in a little room next door.

After Saturday night's drought-breaking win over the world champion Australians, Colling was denied the chance to give the victory speech she had been imagining for years.

She was otherwise engaged, trying to provide a sample for a drug test immediately after the game.

Nevertheless, the goal-attack who carried the Ferns through to their 12-goal rout, eventually got out on the streets of Christchurch to celebrate with her euphoric team.

"But we were so knackered, we didn't do much," she said.
"It didn't matter - everyone was so happy. People were coming up to us on the street and telling us how excited they were. It's such a change.

"It's so good to wake up and think `that game we had against Australia last night, we actually won. It's not a dream.'"

Colling, in her fifth season as a Silver Fern, had never tasted victory over Australia before.

Only two of the players on court - defenders Lesley Nicol and Belinda Charteris - had been in a New Zealand team who had beaten the world No 1, back in 1994. The third survivor from that test, Noeline Taurua, was on the bench.

Even before the Ferns took the court and scored the first three goals, there was a definite air of conviction that had deserted them for the last few years.

"It was the first time I felt really relaxed before a game," Colling said. "In the past I was always really, really tense. But I just felt that everyone around me had confidence in me. And we had luck that we have never had in all of the times I've played against Australia.

"Bill [Charteris] would get a tip and it would go straight into Bernie [Mene's] hands. Everything was going our way."

Colling continued to lead by example, as she had in the Ferns' victory over Jamaica three weeks ago, scoring 19 from 23 shots at goal and running rings around veteran Australian defender Kathy Harby. Ferns goal-shoot Donna Loffhagen scored from all angles, putting in 41 from 53.

New Zealand threw themselves into the match with a fury, and were seven goals up after as many minutes. The Australians were equal to them in the middle quarters, but they never recovered from their clumsy start.

The Australian defence looked strangely out of sorts, and were not helped when keeper Liz Ellis turned an ankle in the third quarter, when the Ferns were ahead by 13.

Australia's linchpin, Vicki Wilson, carried the shooting burden, but she never got enough ball to catch the Ferns.

New Zealand centre Julie Seymour forgot about her Achilles tendon injury for 60 minutes of intense battle in the middle. Seymour, nee Dawson, had her leg in plaster earlier this summer after badly straining it during athletics training.

"It's been niggly but I didn't feel a thing during the game. I was just struggling for oxygen, especially in the last five minutes," she said. "It wasn't until then that I thought `surely they can't catch us now.' I made the mistake of thinking that too early at the Commonwealth Games last year."

Bernice Mene, as steady as the goalposts at each end, described the win as the best result of her seven-year international career.

"We knew we were this good and now we've shown everyone," Mene said.

Australian coach Jill McIntosh said it came as no surprise to her that the Silver Ferns finally beat their arch-rivals. She had had an inkling after the three-goal thriller in Kuala Lumpur.

She said: "We've got a lot ot work on, that's for sure, but we're not slitting our throats just at this point in time."

PICTURED: Julie Seymour snaffles possession ahead of Rebecca Sanders.
PICTURE / FOTOPRESS