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PHOTOS: SilverFerns.co.nz
PHOTOS: SilverFerns.co.nz

SportsJuly 12, 2019

What you need to know about NZ’s chances at the Netball World Cup

PHOTOS: SilverFerns.co.nz
PHOTOS: SilverFerns.co.nz

Twelve years since she last watched a Netball World Cup, Alice Webb-Liddall revisits her childhood passion to preview the 2019 competition before the Silver Ferns’ first game tonight.

New Zealand has been in a bit of a slump when it comes to netball. What used to be a staple school sport is being closed in on by the exciting international prospects of basketball and the rising women’s spheres of cricket and rugby.

At the start of the decade it seemed we were on top of our game, winning Commonwealth victories and Fast5 titles, but this hot streak ended sometime in the past few years. We slipped to third in the world rankings after a poor fourth-place finish at the Commonwealth Games in 2018, and former coach Janine Southby resigned after a review into the dismal result. 

Now, under the guidance of former Silver Ferns attack Noeline Taurua, the team seems to have some of their mojo back. So what chance does New Zealand have of getting the trophy this year? Some things to consider:

Australia are on a World Cup-winning streak

The last time the Australian Diamonds didn’t win the INF Netball World Cup was 2003. They’re on a three-time winning streak, and their current captain Caitlin Bassett has played in two of those tournaments. They top the world rankings by a large margin, and have been the Ferns’ main rival for decades. 

Late last year the Diamonds took home the Constellation Cup after a 3-1 series win over New Zealand, a trophy they’ve held for six consecutive years.

But they’re not invincible

It was too late to change the result of the 2018 Constellation Cup, but the Ferns’ one win proved that New Zealand still had the skill to shake a strong Australian side, and the confidence borne from that could be powerful for the Ferns in this tournament.

England also dethroned the Diamonds in a final-seconds win to claim the Commonwealth gold in 2018, in a game described as “shocking” and a “misery” for the Australian side.

Host-side England are looking very strong

After their Commonwealth win, England defender Eboni Usoro-Brown says the team is “underdog favourites” to take out this year’s top spot, which would be a first for the side. The trophy’s only ever been won by Australia or New Zealand, with the exception of a three-way first-equal in 1979 with Trinidad and Tobago.

The England Roses should make it through the pool stage relatively easily, but facing Jamaica and South Africa in the second round may be a tougher fight.

Pressure from home crowds could build up for the hosting side, but could also provide the support England need to repeat their Commonwealth win.

Jamaica and South Africa can’t be ruled out

Jamaica got a podium finish at the Commonwealth Games last year, beating the Silver Ferns by five goals in the bronze medal match. It was the first time in Commonwealth history that the Silver Ferns have missed out on a medal, but it was a well-earned win by a composed Jamaican side. 

They’ve got a hard draw though, facing South Africa in a pool match. Under the guidance of Norma Plummer, who coached the Australian Diamonds to two World Cup wins in 2007 and 2011, South Africa are definitely not lacking in strategy, and their win against England in January should give them some confidence heading into the competition.

Do the Silver Ferns have a chance?

If you’re superstitious, you could draw links between Australia’s last three-World Cup-win-streak, which New Zealand managed to break in 2003. If you’re not superstitious, we have a tough fight ahead of us, but have recently proven there’s still power in our team.

Making it through the pool stage should be relatively easy. Tonight’s Malawi game could be an interesting one: the side is predictably unpredictable, pulling off a win against New Zealand in the pool match of the 2018 Commonwealth Games. 

In the second stage matches we will face Australia, but despite this the Ferns have a relatively easy run into the semi-finals.

What we didn’t have in the Commonwealth Games were veteran players Laura Langman and Casey Kopua, who have 255 caps for the Silver Ferns between them. The return of these two experienced players, combined with the fresh approach of coach Noeline Taurua gives us a chance at making it to the end.

The world media isn’t picking the Silver Ferns as favourites for a podium finish, but if the current Cricket World Cup is anything to go by, writing us off too soon could be a mistake.

Keep going!
An artist’s impression of Beauden Barrett having a good time playing for The Blues
An artist’s impression of Beauden Barrett having a good time playing for The Blues

SportsJuly 12, 2019

Beauden Barrett has abandoned us for the Blues and I’m weeping tears of fury

An artist’s impression of Beauden Barrett having a good time playing for The Blues
An artist’s impression of Beauden Barrett having a good time playing for The Blues

The Hurricanes’ and All Blacks’ talismanic No 10 is heading north to Auckland in the biggest Super Rugby shift for a long time. Hurricanes true believer and NZ’s leading rugby fraternity authority Jamie Wall does his best to hold it together to analyse the move.

They say the first stage of grief is denial. That’s what Hurricanes fans have been living in ever since the NZ Herald’s Patrick McKendry broke the story exactly a month ago that the jewel in the crown of our team, Beauden Barrett, would be moving to the Blues.

“It makes no sense,” we laughed. “The Canes are due next year,” we firmly stated. “Does he not know how much a house costs in Auckland?” we cried, a hint of desperation in our voices.

Then, this morning, we got the news. He is leaving. He’s turning his back on the team of his father. He’s going to a team so desperate for help they’ve probably re-mortgaged Eden Park just to finance it.

Well Beauden and the Blues, the next stage of grief is anger, and you best believe that a lot of us have arrived at that pretty quickly this morning. The main reason being that the now confirmed move north has the potential to completely blow up the Hurricanes, but more on that later.

Finally, from a Blues perspective, they’ve finally filled the gigantic, Carlos Spencer-sized hole in their team that’s funnelled any chance of success out quicker than Beaudy’s intercept this season that saw them lose to the Canes. But the way they’ve done it speaks volumes about the state of the game in Auckland – the largest union in the country hasn’t been able to deliver a decent first five to the Blues for over a decade.

That’s not to say they haven’t been delivering them to other teams. It would’ve been particularly galling for anyone involved in Josh Ioane’s development to see him selected for the All Blacks last week, despite playing for Otago and the Highlanders for his senior career, the 24-year-old grew up in Auckland and attended the prestigious Kings College.

They had a false dawn with Harry Plummer, but he showed this year that he’s still a long way off being the sort of guy you can depend upon to win you Super Rugby games. The Blues already tried taking another one of the Canes’ first fives, Otere Black, but that hasn’t panned out to being anything useful because coach Leon MacDonald couldn’t decide between his metronomic game management or Plummer’s supposed game-breaking ability.

Some fans may well have moved on to the next stage of grief, which is bargaining. Barrett’s move to Auckland will admittedly be a huge shot in the arm for the game in New Zealand’s biggest city, which, like it or not, is crucial for rugby’s financial sustainability. Senior player numbers are dropping at the same rate as attendances to Blues games once it becomes obvious that they’ll once again miss the playoffs, and if Barrett’s presence can do anything to change both of those problems, it’s for the greater good.

That is said through extremely gritted teeth, though. Barrett leaving the Hurricanes may well signal the departure of brother Jordie, too, with the most logical scenario seeing him move south to link up with youngest brother Scott at the even-more loathed Crusaders. Jordie’s life of shuffling around the Canes backline like a vagrant hasn’t gone unnoticed, and his preferred position of second five is the one spot he’ll definitely not be locking down as long as Ngani Laumape is around. If the Canes do end up Barrett-less in 2020, Canes coach John Plumtree should probably face a few questions as to exactly how he let this happen.

Depression? Well we can skip the next stage of the process, because it’s one Canes fans are well acquainted with anyway. Following this team has involved watching them completely underachieve for most of their existence, and one of the two finals they’ve made was completely unwatchable anyway. Next year was all set up to be the one where the Canes could finally put an end to the Crusaders’ extended horrific reign of domination, who are being gutted with retirements, sabbaticals and the strong possibility that Scott Robertson will be getting a promotion to coach the All Blacks instead. God damn it, we were the ones who were going to be the heroes.

The last stage – acceptance. Well, that’s a fucking long way off, obviously. The Hurricanes hadn’t had anyone close to being a current All Black starting first five (sorry David Holwell and Mal Arnold – not sorry Jimmy Gopperth), and probably won’t again for the foreseeable future. Yes, we still have Ardie and TJ, the undying support of John Campbell (someone please send an ambulance to his house straight away) and the best team song in the competition.

But now we don’t have the one thing we could laud over everyone else. We don’t have Beaudy.

Jamie Wall’s book Brothers In Black: the long history of brotherhood in New Zealand Rugby, is out on August 6. Beauden Barrett is on the cover