England 40
The Silver Ferns jumped on a plane back to New Zealand early this morning a satisfied bunch after finishing their whirlwind tour of Britain with a convincing win over England.
The win, which secured the Ferns a series whitewash, was their best performance of the tour.
Yesterday's match in London is the last time the Ferns will be together as a group before they assemble again in June to begin their preparation for the world championships the following month.
With a world title in Singapore the key focus for the year, the coaching staff had to balance the twin objectives of delivering wins for an expectant New Zealand public with building depth in the squad.
So despite having just scraped past England by two goals in the first two tests, Ruth Aitken made the gutsy decision to leave inspirational defender and captain Casey Williams and shooter Maria Tutaia on the bench in the first half of yesterday's final test.
That gave Tactix shooter Anna Thompson an opportunity at goal attack, having had to muddle through in the unfamiliar position of wing attack in the first two tests, while Anna Scarlett got a start at goal defence, with Katrina Grant at goal keep.
It wasn't pretty.
The Ferns trailed 19-16 at halftime on the back of a bumbling attacking performance, with the attack end struggling to accurately service their key scoring weapon, Irene van Dyk.
The Ferns scored 31 goals in the second half when they had their best possible attacking line on court, compared with only 16 in the first half when Anna Thompson was at goal attack and Laura Langman, who proved the rock in the midcourt all series, was playing in her less-favoured position of wing attack.
Despite a poor opening half, the Ferns would have been pleased they managed to stay in touch of the home side by virtue of a solid defensive performance from the back three of Joline Henry, Scarlett and Grant. They were perfectly poised to strike when Williams and Tutaia returned after halftime.
The addition of Tutaia added structure to the New Zealand attack, which was also aided by a switch of bibs between Langman, who moved back to centre, and Camilla Lees. Both midcourters found their range with the feed in to the circle after halftime, and as their confidence grew, the Ferns surged ahead, taking a 30-29 lead at the final turn.
England battled hard to stay in touch through the early stages of the final quarter, but with the New Zealand defence turning over a mountain of ball, the Ferns pulled away over the final five minutes to record a convincing win.
Despite the 3-0 loss to what was a very underdone Ferns side, England coach Sue Hawkins was extremely bullish about her side's chances at this year's world championships.
"When our girls are flowing and their timing is on, everything goes really well, but as soon as they hesitate, that's when things start to go wrong," she said. "The girls are starting to really use their brains more in a tactical sense and we're looking forward to the world champs."
But privately Hawkins will be extremely disappointed England could not manage to sneak at least one win against the Ferns. It is not very often the Ferns shoot in the 70s (as they did in the first two tests) and England's inability to capitalise on this has to be discouraging for Hawkins.
