By Suzanne McFadden

Copyright newsroom

For the first time in seven years and 83 tests, Dame Noeline Taurua wasn’t on the Silver Ferns bench – elbows on knees leaning into the game, driving home her message in a quarter-time huddle, or on her feet applauding wildly.

Her absence – spoken of in hushed tones – rippled through the crowd as fans began to fill Auckland’s Eventfinda Stadium on Sunday evening.

There were, almost surprisingly, no #BringBackNoels signs, and even the most incensed fans who’d threatened to boycott seemed to have relented, with the stands close to full.

But there was still an unsettling, nervous energy as the Ferns took the court for their warm-up. And a natural concern that the turbulent saga around Taurua’s sudden and seismic stand-down by Netball New Zealand 11 days earlier would derail the Ferns’ performance in their first test in almost a year.

That fear, though, was swiftly dispelled. Within the first 15 minutes, the Ferns piled a 12-goal buffer on the shell-shocked Proteas – whose connections on attack simply couldn’t form under the Ferns’ suffocating defence; while their own defenders were split by a barrage of piercing feeds to shooter Grace Nweke, who revelled in her homecoming.

Although the South Africans steadied during the course of the game, losing the second half by just seven goals, the Ferns had achieved what they came to do: claim the opening test of three – and make Taurua proud.

After the 77-51 victory, match-day captain Karin Burger, playing her 63rd test in the black dress, acknowledged the work Taurua had done with the Ferns squad at the beginning of this cycle, leading into next year’s Commonwealth Games and the 2027 World Cup.

“There’s been a lot of work over the last few months, and obviously with the pinnacle events coming up in mind as well, this is just a stepping stone,” she said. “So hopefully we’ve made her proud tonight to show that everything she’s put into work in the background, we’re actually showing it out there on court.”

It wasn’t just Taurua, at home in the Bay of Plenty, who was watching the Silver Ferns intently. Yvette McCausland-Durie – the woman brought in to replace her for this series – said it was critical the team delivered a statement performance, with the expectant eyes of New Zealand’s sporting public and the wider netball world fixed firmly on them.

“It was critically important. We have a huge amount of pride in the legacy and the mana of the Silver Ferns, and we needed to uphold that,” McCausland-Durie said.

“We know it’s been dented, and there’s been lots of challenges, but certainly for this group, they just kept really focused on tasks. So it was really important to win.

“Any day when you wear this dress, every time you go out there, there’s an expectation, and we wanted to meet that expectation head-on.”

Although the win was monumental, following a fortnight that rocked New Zealand netball to its core, it felt at times more like a lopsided premiership league match-up than an intense international clash.

But there were moments to celebrate – all 12 Silver Ferns selected for this test got court time, including two debutants. Mystics goal keep Catherine Hall made her mark late in the game at goal keep, while Martina Salmon brought an exciting spark to goal attack – the Ferns’ current area of concern.

Salmon wasn’t afraid to fire from distance, sinking nine of 11 attempts. “I hadn’t had much experience in goal attack this year in ANZ [Premiership], so to learn more in the short period of time that I had was pretty crazy,” said Salmon, tears having streaked her face during the national anthem.

“When I came on, I just knew I felt so connected with the girls that were on court, and I knew that they had my back. Just the confidence they have in me, made me feel good…like I could do what I do best.”

Georgia Heffernan, winning her sixth cap, showed similar promise in the GA bib – shooting the same statistics, and smartly setting up Nweke, who was goal shoot from go to whoa.

Fresh from her season with the NSW Swifts, Nweke looked stronger in the air, and other than a few wobbles at the finish, shot more than decently, with 59 from 67. She quickly rekindled her close connection with Peta Toeava, who delivered feeds with cutting precision in that pivotal first quarter, leaving the Proteas flummoxed.

South African coach Jenny van Dyk lamented the sharp start to their international season – the world No.5 up against the world No.2. And, no, they didn’t go into the game thinking the Silver Ferns would be vulnerable without their world champion coach, stood down over questions around her coaching methods.

When Elmeré van der Berg – the top shooter in the UK Super League this season – was finally introduced at goal shoot for South Africa in the second quarter, she was allowed to show her up-and-coming skill. They would be wise to start with her in the second test in Napier on Wednesday.

There’s still much for the Ferns to work on before then. They weren’t as clinical as McCausland-Durie wanted, particularly in the third quarter when the South Africans were at their strongest. There were times when they put Nweke under unnecessary pressure to reel in ball.

“I think our defence worked incredibly hard, but we’d always ask more of ourselves,” the interim head coach said. “But they’ve worked really hard to get to this point. And this is just the start.”

The side will continue to receive support from former Silver Ferns captain and high performance guru Tracey Fear, and All Blacks manager Darren Shand, who was brought in to work on their mental strength during what has been an unprecedented chapter in New Zealand netball history.

“We can have empathy and we can have emotion, but we’ve just got to be able to maintain our ability to stick to our jobs and our roles,” McCausland-Durie said.

“We’ve just been working really hard to be clear, making sure we’ve got that clarity before we go on court, but not leave each other behind, and to make sure we understand that this is an emotional space, and it will be, regardless of what’s going on.

“But yeah, I’m really proud that everybody’s been able to walk forward.”