Papua New Guinea coach Annie Iamo says a lack of experience played a major role in their disappointing performances during this week's netball Tri Series in Suva.
The Pepes were thrashed 67-41 by hosts Fiji on Tuesday and were outclassed 65-42 against Northern Ireland on Wednesday night.
Annie Iamo says she wanted to include more seasoned internationals in the squad but was outvoted by the national selection panel, so a lot of the team has not played much together.
"I've got a brand new midcourt player - three of them - and apart from that there is only one regular in there so this is the first time out. We've been trying to get our combinations done and all that - it's pretty tough - and half of the team is made up of my [Under] 21s. I guess that's no excuse. We tried to hold them off the margin not that high in the first and the second quarters and I think we just ran out of steam-power in the end, in the fourth quarter."
Annie Iamo is backing her team to finish with a strong win in their final match against Tonga on Thursday afternoon and says the week has been valuable preparation for the upcoming Pacific Series.
