Another thrilling chapter written in Diamonds versus Silver Ferns rivalry
New Zealand have ended Australia’s dominance of the Netball World Cup by knocking off the Diamonds in a classic final in Liverpool.
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Diamonds are supposed to be set in gold.
And yet, for the first time in 16 years they’ll be solidified only in silver after Australia surrendered their Netball World Cup final 52-51 to old rivals New Zealand.
In 60 minutes that will go down as a classic trans-Tasman stand-off, Lisa Alexander’s side didn’t lead for the final 46 minutes and couldn’t quite get their late comeback over the line despite winning the last quarter by three goals.
Australia, under heavy pressure following last year’s Commonwealth Games gold-medal miss to England, had got to the decider the hard way via a tightly fought semi-final against South Africa.
Here they were supposed to have the edge, having won four of the past five World Cup finals between this pair.
Except that they didn’t, and this will not signal a celebration of a 12th trophy but a potentially harsh post-mortem into the world’s top-ranked team’s failure to win gold at two successive big tournaments.
“It’s obviously not the result we wanted today,” Australian captain Caitlin Bassett said.
“It was such a close finish and I don’t think you could have asked for any more from any of the girls in our team. It’s one goal. It’s always going to be tight against New Zealand. It is what it is.”
For fourth-ranked New Zealand, it’s a monumental return from the wilderness under the expertise of Noeline Taurua to claim a first World Cup since 2003 less than 18 months after finishing fourth at the Commonwealth Games.
“I’m quite speechless, I don’t know what to say,” Taurua said. “Our fossils stood up for us today. For us to come out and win this, it’s huge for our netball community and for New Zealand.”
In some ways this result was the inverse of the 2015 edition in Sydney.
Four years ago New Zealand poked the Australian bear by beating them in pool play before coming off second best in the final.
Here the opposite occurred, three days after the Diamonds pipped the Kiwis by a point in the preliminary phase.
As expected, Alexander reverted to the starting seven she rested against the Proteas.
Whether that meant missing continuity is a question for after, but Taurua sent out an identical seven to that which disassembled hosts England in Saturday’s second semi-final.
There will also be questions about whether the umpires were over-diligent, with Australia being pulled up for 67 contact penalties to New Zealand’s 41.
But, in the end, officials did not decide this day.
From the first buzzer it took Bassett 18 seconds to open Australia’s account, nine minutes for them to rush to an 8-4 lead, and another six for the Silver Ferns to rally and finish the opening term 10-10.
Part of that was that Maria Folau finally got her eye in after missing three early shots and letting a pass slip through her fingers.
Throw in two errant passes from Jo Weston. One from Kelsey Brown. And the way Jane Watson just wouldn’t leave Bassett alone.
That, really, epitomised an encounter of this vintage. High-octane scuttling and scampering ensued as the two teams traded goals on the centre pass.
The real difference was the Silver Ferns were getting the ball down the court that tiny bit quicker, Courtney Bruce and Weston leaving the goal circle wide open too often.
And when Australia coughed up possession cheaply their counterparts from across the ditch pounced to go in at halftime 28-25 up.
Alexander attempted to address the issues by bringing on Gretel Tippett at goal attack for Steph Wood and Sarah Klau for Bruce at goalkeeper.
Tippett copped a caution for consistent contact but atoned by helping close the deficit, at one point blowing out to 41-34, to finish the third quarter 41-37.
Klau too was repeatedly penalised though Alexander stuck with her, instead introducing April Brandley in wing defence for Jamie-Lee Price.
Australia kept chipping away against an unchanged Kiwi line-up but their adversaries, guided by the brilliant Laura Langman, held their nerve until the end.
Earlier, Tracey Neville signed off as England coach after the Roses beat South Africa 58-42 to take third place.
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