Final score: NZ Men 60 - Silver Ferns 47
Wrap: The Silver Ferns cleared the bench, which is an important factor in assessing their performance. With their best seven on the court in the second quarter they won by four goals, but the men dominated large parts of the game and won the second half by nine goals.
Q4 14mins - Nweke lands again - lead is 14 with 90 seconds to play.
Q4 12mins - Monica Faulkner has played very well in this half - she feeds Nweke who lands.
Q4 10mins - Back to back goals for the Ferns, but the lead is still 15.
Q4 8mins - Junior Levi is back on but he has come on at GK to torment Nweke no doubt. Grace does well and lands a lovely shot.
Q4 6mins - Two goals for Nweke, but the lead is 15 goals for the men.
Q4 4mins - Make that six straight for the men - this is getting ugly for the Ferns. Lazy play at the moment.
Q4 3mins - Four straight for the men as Junior Levi leaves the court to a round of applause.
Q4 1mins - Faulkner opens the scoring but Levi replies seconds later.
Final quarter - Several changes for the Ferns heading into the final frame. Nweke back on at the top.
Three quarter time - Dominant quarter for the men - win that 15mins by seven goals.
Q3 14mins - Wilson sinks a long shot to reduce the lead to eight.
Q3 13mins - The Ferns are playing poorly - turnover after turnover at the moment. Men lead by 10.
Q3 12mins - Three straight for the men and the lead is back out to nine.
Q3 11mins - The Ferns break a bad run with their first basket in five minutes.
Q3 9mins - Make that five straight goals for the men.
Q3 8mins - Three straight goals for the men extends the lead to seven.
Q3 5mins - Back to back goals for the Ferns through Wilson and the lead is back to four.
Q3 3mins - Goal for goal to open the quarter - as I say that the Ferns turn over the ball.
Q3 1mins - Taurua has made changes galore witha brand new seven on the court.A goal a piece to start the quarter.
Second half: Levi is 24 from 27 in the first quarter - he is the ultimate weapon. The Ferns shooting only 76 percent, so they would want to lift that in this second half - Ekenasio is setting the example though with 12 from 14.
Halftime - The Ferns win the quarter by two - 30-25 the score at the break.
Q2 13mins - Ekenasio makes it four in a row for herself and the Ferns - gap down to four goals.
Q2 11mins - Souness wins a midcourt ball for the Ferns and Ekenasio drils it - then seconds later lands another.
Q2 9mins - Back to back goals for the Ferns - Ekenasio and Nweke looking good up top. Jane Watson wins another turnover for her side.
Q2 8mins - Turnover won by Watson but the Ferns give it straight back.
Q2 5mins - Goal for goal at the moment. The Ferns have found rytham, but they are struggling to turn over the men's ball. Nweke is making a difference up top.
Q2 2mins - Burger, Crampton and Nweke on for the Ferns - Grace has two early goals.
Quarter-time - NZ Men 17 Silver Ferns 10
1Q 14mins - Wilson nails a long shot from just inside the half circle .... the Ferns slowly coming into this.
1Q 13mins - Two in a row for the Ferns - Ekenasio and Wilson are working superbly well together up court.
1Q 12mins - The lob feed into Levi is killing the Ferns - he is so dominant.
1Q 11mins - Lovely feed from Ekenasio to Wilson and the Ferns land another.
1Q 9mins - Saunders wins a turnover with a wonderful intercept ...... Ekenasio sinks her shot to break a 5-0 run for the men.
1Q 8mins - Levi is 6 from 8 under the net as the men are dominating the Ferns in the midcourt.
1Q 5mins - Maia Wilson has her first goal of the game - Ferns turn the ball over again but the men return the favour.
1Q: 4mins - Two early turnovers by the Ferns ...Levi is dominating under the net.
1Q: 1:30 - Junior Levi sinks his first and second of the game - early lead for the men.
Lineups:
Silver Fens: GS-Wilson, GA-Ekenasio, WA-Souness, C-Saunders, WD-Winders, GD-Watson, GK-Jury
NZ Men: GS-Levi, GA-Jefferies, WA-Powell, C-Tangira, WD-Tainui, GD-Schuster, GK-Tukaki
7:47pm - Hello folks - in the early game NZ A beat the NZ under-21 side 57-53.
Welcome to live commentary of the Silver Ferns clash against the New Zealand men's side.
Betting odds: Silver Ferns $2.80, NZ Men $1.37
Pre-match banter
Dame Noeline Taurua has given her Silver Ferns a mixed review, after beating New Zealand A in their domestic series opener in Palmerston North.
In their first game since January, the Ferns overcame a sluggish start to secure a 59-44 win, which Coach Taurua rated as just a four-out-of-10 performance.
After trailing during the opening quarter, Taurua's side took a slim lead into the main break, before a strong defensive effort in the second half saw them pull away in the first of four games in as many days.
The series will serve as a warm-up for three tests against England in Hamilton next week.
Both the Ferns and NZ A regularly rotated their players around to manage workloads, as Taurua went with an experienced side that saw Maia Wilson and Ameliaranne Ekenasio start in the shooting circle, Gina Crampton, Kimiora Poi and Claire Kersten in the midcourt, and Karin Burger and Jane Watson in defence.
While the match produced some positives, Taurua saw plenty of room for improvement.
"I could see, sporadically, the areas that we were working on both defence and attack, but I think the little attention to detail at times was missing.
"I don't know if we were a bit tired or just trying to get our legs back out there again. Promising, but still a bit of work to do.
"Some of the players impressed me in NZ A, which was pleasing. I can see the difference between the pros and others trying to stamp their mark, which is natural."
Taurua will hope for a much-improved performance on Thursday, when they face NZ Men in a highly anticipated clash.
The two sides met twice during last year's series and the games - both won by the men - served the Ferns in good stead, as they went onto win the Netball World Cup.
The men's side are vastly different from last year and captain Kruze Tangira predicts a tough game.
Tangira's side opened their account with a 73-44 win over NZ U21.
"It was a good way to shake off the rust and throw the ball around," says Tangira. "The Ferns are a fantastic team and it'll be tough.
"I don't think we will win easily, if we do come out on top, so we have to stay united and play a simple game plan, and keep building those connections out on the court.
