New Zealand enter the women's waterpolo World Cup starting tomorrow in Christchurch with coach Eelco Uri talking down their chances of causing an upset or two.
The tournament represents a rare opportunity for the New Zealanders to shine in international company although Uri noted the quality of opposition and his own side's relative inexperience will make their task all the more difficult.
They qualified for the eight nation event only by virtue of being hosts of a tournament last staged in New Zealand 22 years ago.
New Zealand face a field containing world champions the United States, Canada, Russia, Greece, China, Hungary and world No 2 Australia. They all booked their World Cup places either based on their world rankings or through continental qualifiers.
"It is going to be very tough. We are up against the seven best countries in the world," Uri told NZPA today as he finalised his team's preparations which have included four training camps in recent months.
"I think we know where we stand. It will not be a reality check as such, it'll be a good reminder of what is required for us to be competitive internationally.
"It is a fantastic opportunity to further develop. You can only get better by playing better teams.
"It will be great for us. We have made a fresh start and we have put some new things in place. There are some younger girls in the team now and hopefully for us it will be the start of a new era where we approach things in a better way."
The top four countries in Christchurch will qualify for next year's world championship in Shanghai, China, although Uri said his team's primary goal remained earning entry to the 2013 world championship.
"The World Cup will let us see where we want to end up in three years time at the world championship. That's our first big aim. We have three years to put everything into place and this is the start of it."
Uri, a two-time Olympian for the Netherlands, was appointed national coach this year after having previously coached the British men's team before settling here with his New Zealand wife.
He has set about establishing a programme to improve New Zealand's standing in the sport and said it would take time to bear results.
The New Zealand women finished a respectable 12th among 16 nations at last year's world championship at Rome, and Uri has set himself the goal of helping the country gain a top-eight ranking.
"We are changing a lot of things. We are training in a different way, we have a younger group ... it's all a learning process we're going through and hopefully by 2013 we will start seeing some results of that.
"Then we can use that hopefully as a platform to make the jump to consistently being among the top eight in the world. But that is six-seven years away."
Captain Anna Sieprath, who played for the title-winning Brisbane Barracudas in this year's Australian national league, is one of a number in the New Zealand team who have been forced to go overseas to gain top-level experience.
Four played for Australian league teams this year, while a handful of younger players are on US collegiate scholarships.
Aucklander Emily Cox, who was based in Spain, is the only team member to have played in Europe, although Carina Harache, of Wellington, is due to join an Italian team this year.
New Zealand open their campaign tomorrow night against Australia, who are fresh from a 10-9 win over the United States at a tournament in Sydney last week.
New Zealand: Anna Sieprath (captain, Auckland), Lauren Sieprath (Auckland), Danielle Lewis (Auckland), Emily Cox (Auckland), Lynlee Smith (North Harbour), Dana Harvey (North Harbour),
Sian Els Te Whui (Wellington), Carina Harache (Wellington), Isabella Morrison (Wellington), Emma Stoneman (Wellington), Kirsten Hudson (Wellington), Casie Bowry (Christchurch), Alexandra Boyd (Christchurch)).
