England dig deep for victory over Silver Ferns

A young and less experienced Silver Ferns side have lost an intense encounter with the England Roses, 49-45, in their second game of the Quad Series at The Trusts Arena in Auckland tonight.

Although the Silver Ferns led at every quarter break, the veteran English side held their nerve to take the lead in the last two minutes of the match, and turn it into their first win of the series.

The result has left the New Zealand side with a win and a loss in this Quad Series, after they beat South Africa’s SPAR Proteas at the weekend. 

It was still a heartening performance from the young kiwi side, rebuilding after a number of recent retirements; especially in light of the fact the Roses boasted more than twice the number of Test Caps in their side.

The Silver Ferns were also without the 108-Test experience of Maria Tutaia, who is on bereavement leave, and the 1.92m height of Kelly Jury, who rolled her ankle in training.  The team wore black arm bands out of respect for Tutaia.

England, fresh from a close encounter with the Australian Diamonds, have only beaten New Zealand five times in 88 Tests.

The Silver Ferns attack was sharp and inventive from the get-go, quickly establishing a five-goal lead in the first 10 minutes of the match. 

Whitney Souness, in her second Test but her first time in the starting line-up, was on-song with her feeding into Bailey Mes and Te Paea Selby-Rickit, who found ways to wriggle free from England’s highly experienced defensive duo of Geva Mentor and Ama Agbeze.

On defence Jane Watson and captain Katrina Grant worked tirelessly to upset the English attack, which resulted in a 14-10 advantage to the Silver Ferns at the end of the first quarter.

Through some fierce defence, England took the lead by one midway through the second spell.

Needing to reassert the pressure on defence, the Silver Ferns introduced wing defence Kayla Cullen - returning to the Black Dress after knee surgery - at wing defence.

The rest of the New Zealand defence, including Shannon Francois at centre, responded with a new impetus and the Silver Ferns regained the lead and stay in front, 26-23, at halftime.

Phoenix Karaka brought a new dimension in defence when she entered the game at goal keep at the start of the third quarter, but again the Roses were unrelenting and brought the scores level. A penalty right on the quarter buzzer, converted by Mes, gave the Silver Ferns the lead by the narrowest of margins, 37-36.

Although the Silver Ferns kept a two-goal buffer on their rivals for much of the final spell, England would repeatedly pull it back to level-pegging. With two minutes left, the Roses poured the pressure on around the Silver Ferns’ shooting circle and ensured that their shooters Kadeen Corbin and Helen Housby completed their hard work at the other end.

In a solid performance from the New Zealand shooters, Mes finished with figures of 28 from 33 while Selby-Rickit contributed 17 from 21.

The Silver Ferns will now head to Invercargill for the final match in the Quad Series against the Australian Diamonds on Sunday.