The defending champion New Zealand FastNet Netball team has had a mixed bag on the opening day of the six nation FastNet World Series in Liverpool losing to arch-rivals Australia 25-19 before scraping past Malawi 29-23 and comfortably beating South Africa 31-16.
With Grace Rasmussen the only Silver Fern in the squad, the FastNet Ferns couldn't match the pace of the Australians in the shortened version of the game, outscored by their opponents in the four six minute quarters.
The Ferns also trailed Malawi in the first three quarters of their match before taking the lead and pulling out to a relatively comfortable victory.
The two wins and the loss means the FastNet Ferns advance to the semi-finals, but they know they must improve dramatically if they're to defend the title they won last year.
The Ferns' next round robin game is against England at 11pm tomorrow night.
