But the pride continued to ooze from the Silver Ferns head coach in the wake of their 61-56 win over the England Roses in Invercargill on Sunday.
"Like always [in Invercargill], the crowd comes out", Taurua said.
"Such a successful venue for us and good for us to get that win as well.
"Just keep progressing on the things we know we do well, but also the areas that we know that we need to be better on."
The Silver Ferns were far more clinical than the opening two tests — which they lost in Auckland and Porirua — and showed growth to adapt from their mistakes in those games.
Taurua was pleased that once her side took the lead, they finally managed to maintain it, pushing ahead to at least eight goals at one point.
Defensively, the Silver Ferns were strong as they finished with 13 gains and 10 rebounds.
"They put them under pressure, so I’m really happy with that.
"I thought even though we coughed, and spluttered, when we brought the ball through on turnover to score, there was moments we actually go it through."
The Roses squeezed the Silver Ferns with a tight full-court zone throughout the series, but the Silver Ferns were able to counter it better in Invercargill.
Goal defence Parris Mason and wing defence Karin Burger were "epic" in their workload, bringing the ball through to break over the zone and split the court open.
It was the first test this year in which Taurua stuck with her starting seven for the whole game.
While there were moments others could have been injected into the game when the Silver Ferns looked wobbly, Taurua was pleased to see her players work through their teething issues.
‘‘That’s massive for us", Taurua said.
"You’ve got to be able to learn to grind through some of that stuff and narrow things down.
"I was really proud of them being able to do that instead of capitulating and us getting a bit loose."
Taurua had full faith in her entire squad to take the court when needed.
"I sort of feel when you hand over the bib there must be an element of trust and also an element of players being able to do their job.
"It’s always a fine line, but I massively trust them all and really look forward to seeing them out there and showcasing what they do."
There is healthy competition for starting spots among the Silver Ferns squad — something they had been trying to build for years — and Taurua believed it was a good space for them to be in as they looked to improve ahead of the Constellation Cup against the Australian Diamonds later this month.
The Silver Ferns host the Diamonds in the opening two tests starting on October 20 before heading to Australia for the final two tests.
