2021 CONSTELLATION CUP – NZ v AUST (March)

Blurry eyed but I managed to watch the game live.

Wow ball speed :wacko: what a change up after watching weeks of VNSL.

IMO the umpires influence on any game at this level is minimal. True international players will be able to adapt their play and approach, thus still getting ball and impacting the game.

I don’t believe the diamonds were effected by the isolation. They were still able to train.

What I saw was 2 teams playing hard for a win. The Diamonds, looked like a team that hadn’t played together much and lacking games. The Ferns, looked well drilled. You could see they had a number of tests their belt and a plan. @WeWood yes burrowing and it worked too until Weston, and her long arms, moved to WD.

Roll on game 2 :yahoo:

Oh Eke is definitely injured. There was an obvious limp. It’s probably why she went missing in the last quarter

To be honest, I don’t think CBass was the problem, I think the problem was more the general connection from C down to GS.
I would have thrown in Proud at that point and moved Watson back to WA but obviously that wasn’t an option. Charles was making some quite over abitious passes but her speed was helpful. Also did I see correctly that she got a caution in her debut quarter?

I loved the move of Weston to WD, she isn’t the fastest but her long arms are a great asset there.

(I tried to comment this mid-match yesterday but for some reason it wouldn’t let me post even though I had already posted a few minutes prior)

I like that the Ferns absorbed the little runs from Australia and counteracted with a run of their own. That said, I think the Q4 Diamonds was the best line up so the Ferns would need to work on Bruce as she’s great at picking up ball outside the circle (a bit Kopua like). Glad Winders was able to prove me wrong however I think Kersten got worse as the match wore on – still very good but she seemed to get rattled by the physical marking and made a couple of poor decisions in the last Q. Also both Ferns shooters seemed to struggle from mid-range – hopefully this can lift as the series goes on.

I reckon Ekenasio will be rested tonight due to injury so we should see Mes at GA.

No worries. IMO, She was benched because her standard of play was lacking for a 100 test veteran. At least 3 times she was within 1m of the post and passed out for better position, twice she lost the ball. Charles was trying to use ball speed to get the ball to Bassett and she was never where she should be or would come off the hold. And the 2 shots Bassett did miss, were absolute sitters, one she did not rebound. I’ll pay the fact that I’m the first half she didn’t have a great C feeding her, but Charles and Watson really changed up the flow when they came on and Bassett still couldn’t command the ball or find space.

I’ve always been a supporter of Bassett, but it’s become very clear in the past 5 years that it was her combination with Medhurst that “propped” up her game. Medhurst managed to create so much space for Bassett and she was so deceptive that any opposition GD knew they couldn’t always leave her alone to double team Bassett.

I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure Australia shot 100% in the final quarter.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by NB12.

I would have kept CBass on, and brought Koenan on at GA.
Austin did okay, in her debut. I like that she is willing to take the shots, but she wasn’t really drawing a defender off CBass. I think if she upped her accuracy, a defender would have no choice but to cover her. ATM I think they’re quite happy for to take those shots.

IMO CBass needs game time, and as much of it as possible. Her lack of court time, did show in this game. However she’s still a force to be reckoned with.

The Ferns really need to step up their game. They should have won this game by much more (as with the England series). They have so much in their favour eg oppositions having to quarantine, and having NZ umpires. It’s not impressive at all, that we only won by 5. If there was neutral umpires, that could have easily turned around.

I agree completely TB re Ferns underperformance here and against England.