The Fiji netball team finished winless at the Commonwealth Games and face an injury crisis heading into next week's Oceania World Cup qualifier.
The Pearls were thumped 81-32 by Wales in the 11th place playoff yesterday to slump to a sixth straight defeat on the Gold Coast.
Their smallest losing margin was 25 goals against Barbados and coach Vicki Wilson said they were always up against it.
"It was always going to be tough being ranked 12th coming into a competition where there's only 12 teams, so it was for us all about testing ourselves, learning and growing as individuals and as a team."
Wilson said a series of major injuries made it difficult to contain their opponents.
Fiji netball coach Vicki Wilson. Photo: Netball Fiji
"We were decimated with players," she said.
"To lose key players in all positions but also to lose our two biggest players, so players with size, and you can't play internationally unless you have anchors at either end of the court.
"To lose a player 185cm and 182cm - after that we don't have very much height - so comparatively looking at the others teams we are a much shorter team."
Fiji don't have much time to recover with the Oceania Regional Qualifiers for the Netball World Cup starting on Tuesday.
The Pearls will take on Samoa, Papua New Guinea and the Cook Islands in Auckland, with the top two advancing to next year's tournament in Liverpool.
"We've got three players that are definitely not travelling to the qualifiers," Wilson said.
"A couple of others have to be medically assessed - we're just hoping they might recover in time.
"We've got a couple of selection meetings going on again tonight, just working through our list and making sure we've got full cover on all positions."
