While all eyes are on a Commonwealth Games gold medal, Joline Henry and the Silver Ferns are keen to rectify their failures to get their hands on a 'beautiful' 101-diamond trophy.
To achieve this, they will need to win Thursday's second Test in Wellington with the hope of forcing a game-three decider in Auckland on Sunday, after capitulating to a 43-48 loss to Australia in Adelaide.
After winning the third quarter by three goals, New Zealand led 36-35 heading into the final stanza, but their customary jitters under pressure shone through as shooters Irene van Dyk and Maria Tutaia faltered which saw the Diamonds pull away for a comfortable victory.
A 101-diamond-encrusted Constellation Cup, introduced to mark the 50th anniversary of New Zealand's first seven-a-side tour of Australia, would act as motivation to front up in the capital. As other Kiwi sports teams have learned, losing sight of the present can impeded future goals.
"We're all excited about the trophy. We'll be going gung-ho to get our hands on it, it's beautiful; 101 diamonds – that's a girl's best friend," Henry declared with a chuckle, admitting winning the next two matches would be a difficult.
"The pressure's on, but that's what you train for. We know this is the pinnacle. There's nothing like playing Australia. That's when the great players step up, so expect nothing but the most fierce battle on our home turf. The test of a great team is how they bounce back from setbacks like this."
Devious Australian coach Norma Plummer pulled a rabbit out of the hat by handing disruptive 1.96m defender Susan Fuhrmann her boarding pass in the final quarter. It proved decisive.
"It wasn't a bad effort to go on cold in the last quarter and nullify the turnovers that won the game, she did a great job," Plummer said of Fuhrmann's effort.
Henry had a slightly different view, criticising the English umpires' interpretations.
"She [Fuhrmann] got away with a lot. To her credit, she played to the umpires very, very well," the Northern Mystics defender said. "Our shooters need to come up with strategies to ensure that when things aren't getting called our way, that's not an issue."
Straight-talking Henry, who has moved from defence to the mid-court for the Ferns, refused to pin New Zealand's inability to front for the full pressure-cooker 60 minutes on their shooters.
"Individuals need to take a really hard look at themselves," she said. "Collectively we didn't look after each other. At times we were caught working in isolation."
The 27-year-old was subbed as one of four changes coach Ruth Aitken made at half time in a bid to spark New Zealand's disjointed mid-court flow. She conceded her side did not match Australia's fluency when alterations when made.
The Ferns also committed too many 'soft' unforced turnovers and did not let the ball go which played into Australia's man-on-man marking.
"There's nothing like playing Australia, so we need to give everyone a taste both at the start and off the bench," Henry said. "We need to make sure these changes are seamless, but our changes could have been more seamless.
"When they make changes they are seamless, you don't notice a lot in terms of intensity, they hit each other with the ball. That's something we can learn."
Whether four days is enough for those lessons will be evident come Thursday.