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Netball great Casey Kopua pregnant during World Cup

Former star-defender Silver Fern Casey Kopua has revealed exclusively to Te Āo Māori News that she is 14 weeks pregnant and was carrying her child during her triumphant gold medal win at the 2019 Netball World Cup held in Liverpool last July.

“It happened very quickly but I’m very excited about it," says Kopua.

Kopua, 34, never won a netball world cup title since debuting in 2005 and making 111 test matches prior, winning two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games both in 2006 and 2010. That dream was the very reason why she came out of retirement after giving birth to her daughter Maia who is 3 years-old.

After beating Australia by one goal in the world cup final and becoming Player Of The Match, the netball legend retired. She returned home to Waikato and discovered the news of her pregnancy.

“I took the test because I was feeling unwell and when I told my husband Terry, he was like “are you sure?” Because we didn’t see each other that much before the world cup.”

She married her husband Terry Kopua in 2012 whose also a gun Te Matatini National Kapa Haka performer, representing Tū Te Manawa Maurea from Te Tairāwhiti. Last week she finally had the courage to watch the replay of their world cup final between New Zealand Silver Ferns and the Australian Diamonds and it continues to be emotional for her.

“I got hot and flustered and my husband had to remind me that we actually won.”

Casey Kopua meeting her number 1 fans at Spark Arena.

Te Āo Māori News caught up with Kopua at the second test of the Constellation Cup Test Series between the New Zealand and Australia in Auckland.

The Australians struck back with a convincing win 48 - 42 since their one goal loss to the Ferns in the first test.

The 150th Trans-Tasman Netball rivalry between the two nations also lived up to its reputation. Diamonds Coach Lisa Alexander who reached a milestone of 100 games admits "you can't have the yin without the yang" if Silver Ferns Coach Noeline Taurua isn't a part of the equation.

But the win on the other hand for Alexander was brought down to rotating her 11 players out of the 12 and doggered defense, to which kept the Ferns' shooter's around 70% in the match.

"I wanted to do something different to the players because they needed to be brave out there," says Coach Alexander.

The Australian Diamonds have got the better of us in Auckland to level the 2019 Constellation Cup with two games still...

Posted by Silver Ferns on Wednesday, October 16, 2019

The Silver Ferns were trailing by 10 goals at one stage of the second-half. However, there were some moments of brilliance for Taurua as she gave special recognition to the work load of her young star goal-defender (GD) Karin Burger, who snaffled five intercepts.

"She's got a lot in her toolbox and good to see her out there," says Coach Taurua.

While the legacy of Kopua remains as one of New Zealand Sport's greatest defenders at the elite level of netball, Ferns Captain Laura Langman said the team is 'different' without her. But she's certain the test series is a platform to blood younger players for the future.

"World Cup was our foundation and we wanted to add more strength to our bow and over the past two tests I think our defenders have given it a good fist," says Langman.

The third of four tests will be hosted by Australia at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney this Sunday with the final match in Perth on 27 October.