Injury Concerns Strengthen NZ Netball Teams’ Resolve

Unbeaten in pool play at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the New Zealand Netball team are tenaciously planning for the next phase of competition, the semi-finals.

After two rest days, the NZ team are firmly focussed on what is required to defeat one of the high flyers in world Netball – England, who underlined their credentials earlier in the pool play, coming within one goal of current world champions Australia.

With such a crucial match on the horizon, New Zealand Netball coach Waimarama Taumaunu says she can’t help but be impressed with the way her team has rallied in the wake of injuries over the past week.

The eight-goal win over Jamaica was never a certainty with the NZ teams’ top two shooters reduced to sitting on the bench with injuries, leaving the weight of expectation on Jodi Brown and Ellen Halpenny.

“It certainly has felt as though we’ve had a little bit more of a challenge than normal,” she admitted.

“When Cathrine (Latu) came off in that Northern Ireland game soon after Maria (Tutaia) and with Ellen injured the day before, I felt a really strong surge from the team.

“It was in terms of ‘right, this is serious now and we really have to look after each other’. Straight after that we went on a seven-nil scoring spree.

 “We retained possession, were resilient and very firm, we displayed all of those attributes,” she said.

 “That was the beginning of seeing the team really come together instead of just meandering through the second week.”

While Halpenny has bounced back to full fitness after rolling her ankle in the match against Scotland, the status of Tutaia and Latu is still being assessed on a day by day basis.

The NZ team have secured their semi’s spot against England and the kiwis are under no illusion that to topple the world’s third ranked team is going to be a huge challenge.

At least half of England’s line-up play professionally in Netball’s ANZ Championship so they are a not altogether unfamiliar unit for the kiwi players. Jade Clarke, Geva Mentor, Eboni Beckford-Chambers, Ama Agbeze, Jo Harten and new signing for the Northern Mystics Serena Guthrie are all in the English side.

The way the English approach their matches is also familiar to NZ Netball coach Waimarama Taumaunu after her role as national performance director for All England Netball more than ten years ago. During Taumaunu’s time in England, she was also assistant coach for the England team in the 2003 World Championships in Jamaica.

The New Zealanders are continuing to hit their targets, especially the matches where the score has fast-tracked in their favour. Taumaunu says the key is to stick to their game plan and continue to cement combinations, some of which are untested in match play.

“We scored over 20 goals a quarter against Saint Lucia,” Taumaunu said.

“We set some small tasks for ourselves which we met, so it’s been good for us in terms of confidence in doing what we say we’re going to do, so that was also useful,” she said.

 “We’ve got an idea of what the final line-ups could be so we’ll make a final call before the match,” she said.

New Zealand play England in the first semi-final on Saturday night from 8.50pm with the second semi-final following straight after.

For broadcast details and more information on the Netball component of the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, please click here.