Wipiiti wants start as Silver Ferns look to wrap up series

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DECIDER: Daneka Wipiiti in action.

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Daneka Wipiiti admits she may have played her way into the Silver Ferns' starting seven for this afternoon's winner-takes-all Constellation Cup clash with arch-rivals Australia.

The inaugural trans-Tasman series is deadlocked with a win apiece. But momentum is firmly with the Ferns after Thursday's crushing 59-40 win against the Diamonds in Wellington.

Newly-recalled Fern Wipiiti, 27, turned in an excellent performance after replacing clutch shooter Irene van Dyk at halftime and says whether she starts or not this afternoon she's pleased to have repaid the faith shown in her by head coach Ruth Aitken.

"With food poisoning and injury it's been a bit of a rough road for me since coming back into the squad," Wipiiti said. "I needed to put in a good performance to show the coaching staff what I can do and I put in a really good game.

"Playing like I did, I think it's given the coaches some more confidence in me. They gave me the opportunity and I grabbed it with both hands. You've got to because you never know when your next chance might come.

"It would be nice to get a start against Australia for the final game – I don't think I've done myself any harm in that respect. You never know, there's so much depth in the Silver Ferns squad at the moment, so many combinations, structures and strengths.

"If I'm in the starting seven, fantastic. If not, I can make an impact off the bench.

"Thursday was a great win but we've got to stay grounded. We've got to back it up. It's do or die now."

Wipiiti knew she would feature in Thursday's clash thanks to an early tip from Aitken. The shooter is likely to have been given similar notice this morning.

"Ruth had given me a heads-up before the game on Thursday, I knew I was likely to get a good amount of time on court," Wipiiti said. "Obviously, the management have plans in place ahead of a match but those plans can change. But I was ready to get out there.

"It can be quite a funny situation because while you're not just called off the bench on the spot and you have time to prepare, you also use that time during the day to think about it. I was still really nervous.

"When you wear the bib of a shooter you have to get the ball through the hoop and that was probably the thing we lacked most when we lost the first test in Adelaide last Sunday.

"But there are still things to work on. We shooters still have room for improvement as well – we all need to be firing above 85%.

"Put it this way, we won't be celebrating until we've lifted that trophy for the first time.

"The way I see it, the team who scores best off turnover ball will take it out."

- © Fairfax NZ News