By Bridgette Tunnicliffe for RNZ
Missing their captain and vice-captain proved too much for the Silver Ferns on Friday night as the England Roses recorded their first-ever series win on New Zealand soil.
The Commonwealth champions beat a depleted New Zealand outfit 49-45 to win the Taini Jamison Trophy series in Christchurch 2-1, on the back of another second-half comeback.
The Silver Ferns looked on track for victory, building on a massive second quarter, to lead by 10 at half-time.
But England made some changes and cut the Silver Ferns' lead to just four going into the final turn, before running down the home side in the final quarter.
Captain Gina Crampton was ruled out again with an adductor strain; the newly appointed captain only got to skipper the Ferns in the first test.
Then vice-captain Sulu Fitzpatrick was a late scratching after hyperextending her knee at training on Thursday.
To add to the Silver Ferns woes, shooter Tiana Metuarau, who was having a great debut series, was not available following a strain she picked up in the second test.
But despite missing other world-class players Jane Watson and Ameliaranne Ekenasio due to injury and pregnancy respectively, coach Dame Noeline Taurua still thought her side was capable of the win.
"We know we've got firepower [coming back] - they are going to make a difference when they do [return] and take the court." Dame Noeline says.
"Not only in their maturity, but also that big game presence so that is an upside but in saying that I thought we had enough within our current squad.
"We were up by 10 - you can't rely on the same people to be able to do it all the time."
Taurua says the Ferns became reactive, rather than proactive when the Roses made substitutions, and this series has shown her where the gaps are and where people needed to improve.
"It's a starting point where I know where players are at."
Three players debuted during the series - Tiana Metuarau, Grace Nweke, and Georgia Tong, who was promoted from the development squad for the decider.
Fill-in skipper Sam Winders, who captains Tong at the Magic, is thrilled her club teammate wore the black dress for the first time.
"She's taken a different route to get to where she is now," Winders says.
"She's not your standard to come through the age groups and progress out of high school into a franchise team.
"She turns 27 this year, but she's a tick the box kind of girl and she does the work behind the scenes so just very proud of her because it's testament to the fact that she works blimmin hard and it was very cool to see her get a run out there tonight."
Winders backed up her stellar Constellation Cup form by playing nearly every minute of the series and "owning" the wing defence position according to her coach.
"[Winders] is quite reliable not only defensive, but also her ability to take the ball from one end of the court down to the other and we rely on her hugely to be able to do that so she worked really hard and that's the Sam way so it's pretty cool that she's able to do that again," says Taurua.
With Commonwealth Games just nine months away, Taurua says a wake up call courtesy of defeat against England could be a good thing, although she is also mindful the Roses were missing star shooters Jo Harten and Helen Housby.
"There's going to be some quality players that miss out [for England]... all four of those players [shooters] are world-class.
"I think they have 250 more caps than us. They showed why they are the Commonwealth [Games] gold medallists."
The Silver Ferns are taking on a New Zealand Men's Invitational team in a three-match series starting October 10 in Hamilton.
Taurua says applications have been made for extensions to the four Auckland-based players exemptions, that would allow them to compete in Hamilton.
She says work was still going on behind the scenes to try to get a Constellation Cup Schedule against Australia before the end of the year.
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