Coach Dame Noeline Taurua had plenty of reasons to smile, after the Silver Ferns' eyebrow-raising 56-48 win over Australia in Wednesday's Constellation Cup opener at Auckland on Wednesday.
The Ferns exploded out of the gates with an 11-goal unanswered streak and never looked back, surging to one of the most impressive performances against their rivals in recent years.
At the core of their victory was a stoic defensive effort, anchored by Player of the Match Phoenix Karaka, who wreaked havoc in the defensive circle in tandem with Kelly Jury, while rookie Kate Heffernan had her hands in everything on the wings in her first outing against the Diamonds.
Playing against the Diamonds for the first time and being tasked with shutting down one of the planet's premier wing attacks in Liz Watson, Heffernan more than held her own.
"I thought it was a good start for Kate," Dame Noeline said after the game.
"I would never disrespect Liz. I hold her in high regard… she's a master of what she does, and I feel - as a unit - they all did their role and it turned over a lot of ball, so really pleased for Kate."
"She reminds me of an Australian wing defence, that same sort of style so one on one - where her opponent goes, she goes.
"I think also her connection with Whitney [Souness] on the outside, they did a power of work in our defensive structures so really happy.
"Our next bit will be can Kate do it again. That's the challenge for everyone, can we do it again."
The New Zealanders' defence limited the Australian shooters to a miserable 79 percent success rate, which was in stark contrast to their own sparkling 92 percent inside the circle.
The driving force behind that shooting effort was the combination between Mystics duo Peta Toeava and Grace Nweke, whose symbiotic connection translated seamlessly from the ANZ Premiership to the international court.
Handed a lifeline after some early struggles in the black dress, Toeava delivered on her coach's good faith with a virtuoso display in the midcourt, ensuring a steady stream of quality ball for her shooters.
"Especially in the first half she showed her amazing ability to thread that ball to connect with Grace [Nweke], I thought she did that really well," noted Taurua.
"That's probably also her first game that she's played four quarters. There were moments there where I thought 'if you keep doing this you're going to get off' but hey, she stuck at it and I think that's really good for our team that we are able to ride the ups and downs ... really pleased with her."
Nweke was near unguardable in the circle, splashing goals from all manner of angles and distances in converting 40 of her 42 attempts.
"I think you saw that in spasms and also that ability to let those long balls go which is a beautiful brand of netball," said Taurua.
"There's also that brand that we're looking for in regards to just getting it on circle edge and get your knitting done, and once you get on circle edge, there's nobody that can stop that one-on-one with Grace or any of our shooters.
"We're looking to find that balance there, I thought they both did really well and always room for improvement."
The teams now head to Tauranga for the second test on Sunday, where a win for the Silver Ferns - as the current holders - could lock up the Constellation Cup for another year.
And as pleased as she was with her team's efforts at Spark Arena, Dame Noeline said improvement will be crucial to weather what will undoubtedly be a stern response from a wounded Australian side this weekend.
"I thought structure-wise the defence was really outstanding," she said. "Attacking end, we still need to just keep chipping away at the areas that we want to work on in strategy."
Join us at 7:30pm Sunday for live updates of the second Silver Ferns v Australia Constellation Cup test
