Aotearoa Men have staved off a series whitewash with a dominant performance to overwhelm the Silver Ferns 57-53 in their third encounter at Wellington.
After falling to defeat in their opening two games of a three-game schedule, the males stormed back to salvage some pride in netball's 'Battle of the Sexes', providing the world champion Ferns with a thorough workout before their 2022 Commonwealth Games campaign.
The men won each of the first three quarters and opened up a 14-goal advantage in the fourth, before wilting down the stretch, allowing the Ferns to close with four goals as time ran out.
As they had in the previous encounters, the women enjoyed the lion's share of possession and attempted more shots on goal than their counterparts, but this time, they were intimidated off their stride by a dominant defensive display by goal keep Victor Godsmark-White.
His athleticism and height around the goal were too much for Ferns shooters Maia Wilson, Tiana Meturau and Grace Nweke, who were all caught hearing footsteps, as they lined up their shots.
Coach Dame Noeline Taurua rotated most of her squad - only defender Georgia Tong did not take the court - in an effort to find a combination that would bring them back, as the contest slipped away.
The Ferns went almost five minutes in the third quarter without scoring and then suffered another five-minute drought in the fourth to compound their problems, but piled on seven consecutive goals to close fast at the finish.
"We just got guilty of forcing the pass too much," says midcourt Shannon Saunders. "We really needed to score off turnover, because we didn't get that many - it was crucial.
"They were putting pressure on us and our timing was a bit out."
After his faultless performance 24 hours earlier, shooter Jay Geldard misses his very first attempt on goal, but then only one more over the entire game to dominate scoring for the men.
While Wilson finished with more goals, Nweke had the best shooting return (80 percent) for the Ferns. Defenders Kelly Jury and Karin Burger were again heroic, playing every minute of the series unchanged, as they battled bigger opponents.
The NZ women currently have no further games scheduled before the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, but may yet find themselves battling their male rivals again, before leaving for England.
Aotearoa Men 57 (Jay Geldard 51/53, Ben Smith 6/9) Silver Ferns 53 (Maia Wilson 20/27, Tiana Metuarau 17/23, Grace Nweke 16/20)
