Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua isn't concerned that consecutive Northern Quad Series losses have hurt her side's prospects at this year's Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
After opening the London tournament with a 53-39 loss to Australia, the NZ women were more impressive against hosts England, despite their 49-46 defeat.
But with a squad missing several key players and with youngsters still making their way as New Zealand internationals, Dame Noeline prefers to see the silver lining in the result, as the team build towards Birmingham.
With the nature of the defeats building experience among the Ferns' next generation, the World Cup-winning coach seems happy to accept the trade-off.
"I'm actually happier today than I was yesterday," says Dame Noeline. "I think it's promising, there's a lot of potential in this current group and also individuals.
"I feel as long as we keep chipping away and being better than what we did, there's a lot to work on.
"I think also, out of today, I was able to consolidate a few combinations and positions, and that's really helpful moving forward, as we do the next planning with ANZ [Premiership]."
The Silver Ferns will be out to avoid a repeat of their last Commonwealth Games showing at Gold Coast, where they failed to medal for the first time - New Zealand's worst performance in the history of the competition.
Monday's defeat leaves the Silver Ferns third on the Quad Series ladder, ahead of only South Africa, courtesy of goal difference.
With Australia and England winning both their opening two matches, Wednesday's encounters will be dress rehearsals for the Quad Series' final and third-placed playoff - both scheduled for Thursday morning (NZ time).
Although the Proteas currently prop up the table, Dame Noeline knows her young side will have their work cut out, if they're to avoid finishing last, but is banking on the improvement from Australia to England and is confident of another lift.
"I feel that what we did today is way better than yesterday," she adds. "There's some hope in the group in what we're currently doing.
"I think we need to be able to improve and coming out of today, we know exactly what that is, as a group, as we debrief.
"They've given England and also Australia a run, especially in the first half, so we've got to have that pressure and we know that they'll be able to do that to us.
"It's once again taking that and improving from what we did today."
Join Newshub for live updates of the Silver Ferns v South Africa from 6:30am Wednesday.
