Northern Tour away to winning start for Silver Ferns
Setting the Northern Tour in motion, the Silver Ferns dusted off their long-haul travel effects to complete a 63-41 win over the Scottish Thistles in Glasgow on Monday.
The world No 2 Silver Ferns retained their unbeaten record against the 10th-ranked Thistles in the 14th meeting between the pair but first since the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
In their first visit to Scotland since the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014, the Silver Ferns got their whirlwind Northern Tour off to a positive start in a comfortable opener while leaving plenty of room for improvement.
With shooter Georgia Heffernan ruled out of the match-day 12 as a precautionary measure after suffering a tweak to her back in the captain’s run, and key strike weapon Grace Nweke remaining on the bench throughout, Amelia Wamsley and Martina Salmon carried the shooting load for the Silver Ferns for the entire match.
The Silver Ferns built on their lead through each quarter and were never seriously troubled but at times lacked fluency while Scotland produced their most productive outing against New Zealand with a record number of goals and closest margin.
With a view to giving the full squad opportunities during the tour and the heavy workloads carried by some during the recent Constellation Cup Series against Australia and the Taini Jamison Trophy series against South Africa, some of the Silver Ferns rising young guns were given starting spots in the Scotland opener.
Walmsley and Salmon were paired in the shooting circle, Parris Mason was given an opportunity at wing defence and after a patient wait in the recent series, Carys Stythe got to make her international debut, at goalkeeper.
The Silver Ferns took a little time to settle into their new-look line-up before surging to an unanswered eight-goal run while building a handy buffer. Centre Kimiora Poi delivered a string of pinpoint passes into shooter Walmsley while captain Karin Burger was a constant thorn on defence.
Bouncing back, with centre Hannah Leighton producing some strong driving play, the Thistles produced a competitive finish to the stanza with the Silver Ferns holding a 16-10 lead at the first break.
The visitors continued to edge ahead on the resumption but didn’t have things all their own way, at times delivering a seamless flow with their attacking transition while at others, being held up by staunch Scottish defence.
Walmsley was a key influence under the Silver Ferns hoop while Scotland produced some promising patches, goal attack Niamh McCall slotting some trademark long shots and captain Emily Nicholl picking up some defensive intercepts.
The Silver Ferns stretched their advantage when leading 33-22 at the main break.
The Silver Ferns made wholesale changes for the second half with Salmon and Walmsley switching shooting positions, Mila Reuelu-Buchanan took over from Peta Toeava at wing attack while a new defence line was introduced, with Kate Heffernan, Catherine Hall and Kelly Jackson making up the back three.
As with earlier in the match, the Silver Ferns took time to adjust to the new combinations, the plucky Thistles making good use of the game’s tallest player in shooter Emma Barrie but unable to make the most of their opportunities.
Unforced errors didn’t help Scotland, the New Zealanders clicking into gear to push their advantage out to 16 when leading 49-33 at the last turn.
With next year’s 23rd edition of the Commonwealth Games, also to be held in Glasgow, the Silver Ferns are hoping to familiarise themselves with the Games venue while also replicating the tournament-based format of that event with a succession of closely-scheduled games. As a result, they will play a quickfire five tests in 10 days, including two against Scotland, and three against England.
The second test between the Silver Ferns and Scotland will be played on Wednesday at 8.30am (NZ time).