Silver Ferns pipped by England, miss out on Nations Cup final
Sunday, 28 January 2024
At First Direct Arena, Leeds: England Roses 58 (Eleanor Cardwell 35/40, Helen Housby 23/26) Silver Ferns 57 (Grace Nweke 47/50, Amorangi Malesala 6/7, Georgia Heffernan 4/4). 1Q:15-14, HT: 30-31, 3Q: 46-43.
A lack of defensive gains again hurt the Silver Ferns after they missed out on a place in the Nations Cup final.
Dame Noeline Taurua’s side were pipped 58-57 by hosts England in a dramatic finish to their last-round clash in Leeds on Sunday (NZ time).
With the winner booking a spot with Australia (who earlier in the day beat Uganda 63-49) in Monday’s (NZT) decider, the Ferns went toe to toe with the Roses throughout the contest, but fell short.
That was thanks to a massive play from Funmi Fadoju with 17 seconds left, with the England goal defence snaffling an intercept from in front of towering Kiwi shooter Grace Nweke to snuff out any chance of a Ferns fairytale finish.
An inability to pick up consistent defensive ball has been an issue for the Ferns throughout the Nations Cup and Taurua said it cost them against England. The Ferns did get 13 gains and six intercepts for the match, but Taurua said they were always striving for more.
“I think that’s a bit of a story of ours [at Nations Cup]. We were putting on pressure, but just weren’t able to get our hand to ball cleanly.
“I thought in the second or third quarter we got pinged quite a bit penalty-wise. It got a bit physical down that end and a few bodies on the ground.”
The Ferns would have targeted a spot in the Nations Cup final before the tournament, even with captain and starting goal attack Ameliaranne Ekenasio and veteran defender Jane Watson not attending due to managed breaks.
There had been some pleasing moments from the young Ferns in England, but Taurua said there were still plenty of growing pains - not unexpected at the start of a new World Cup cycle.
“I am disappointed [not to make the final]. I thought we were ready, we had a good couple of days in training, but it probably shows we’ve got a bit to go in regards to that experience.
“Knowing that when we need to play to win and a bit of gamesmanship, I think [the England] Roses do that very well and that’s something we need to be able to learn to do. We are where we are.”
In a first half where the teams couldn’t be separated − England raced out to a 5-0 lead, but took a narrow 15-14 advantage to quarter time. New Zealand were ahead 31-30 at halftime, but the Roses asserted some third-quarter dominance to have a three-goal buffer going into the final 15 minutes.
Taurua reinstated Whitney Souness in the WA bib and the Ferns fought their way back, with Nweke (47/50) netting three goals on the trot to close things right up, with a two-point margin with two minutes left.
A silky no-look pass from shooting partner Amorangi Malesala, on debut, saw Nweke sink it to make it 58-56 with just over a minute to play.
New Zealand won back the ball and Nweke duly netted to make it a one-goal game with 40 seconds to go.
With the centre pass, the Ferns were on track to tie things up.
They fed into the circle and Malesala had an option to shoot, but didn’t. Instead Tayla Earle − into the match-day squad for a debut with Maddy Gordon out as a precautionary measure after a head knock in training − had her pass into Nweke snaffled by a leaping Fadoju, with England able to then play out the final seconds.
Taurua praised the two debutantes with Malesala, producing a “blinder” and Earle, impressing in her 35 minutes at centre.
The Ferns face Uganda − who they beat 65-60 last Monday (NZT) − in Monday’s third/fourth playoff (3am start NZ time).