Silver Ferns shock Diamonds to keep Constellation Cup alive

Australian coach Lisa Alexander defended her heavy player rotation in the Diamonds’ shock 55-44 loss to New Zealand.

Diamonds goal keeper Courtney Bruce defends against Maria Folau of the Silver Ferns during the Constellation Cup match in Hamilton. Picture: Getty Images

netball: Australian coach Lisa Alexander defended her heavy player rotation in the Diamonds’ shock 55-44 hammering from New Zealand in the third Constellation Cup Test.

The Silver Ferns pounced on an error-riddled performance from the Diamonds in Hamilton and lifted their own standards as Noeline Taurua claimed her first major scalp as coach.An Australian win would have been their 10th on the trot over New Zealand, matching their record streak set 20 years ago. Instead, the world champions steadily disintegrated, losing all four quarters in a Test for the first time in eight years.

The lopsided result also means Australia can’t lock away the Constellation Cup yet either.

A 14-point win for New Zealand in the final Test in Wellington on Thursday would see the silverware cross the Tasman for the first time in six years.

Alexander is sure to be more conservative with her selections after opening this Test with second-choice shooters Caitlyn Thwaites and Gretel Tippett, along with Jamie-Lee Price on debut at wing defence.

While Taurua fielded the same seven for the whole Test — as she did in last week’s 56-47 loss in Townsville — Alexander made multiple changes at every break. Goal keeper Courtney Bruce was the only Diamond to play the entire match. Captain Caitlin Bassett played the two middle quarters but was off her game at goal shooter and was replaced for the final stanza by Tippett, who is normally a goal attack.

Tippett was more impressive than the two veteran goal shooters, landing 16 goals from 17 shots.

“We’ve got to explore for the future as well and we’ll be looking at Gretel there at some stage down the track,” Alexander said.

“Caitlin Thwaites had been working very hard in training and brought us a different change to what we were doing. But we’ve got to get those goals through.”

Alexander said her team “made a meal” of their basic attacking plays but paid credit to a vastly improved New Zealand.

She said Price’s debut was a positive, with the daughter of former Kangaroos rugby league great Steve claiming four intercepts in the first half.

Led by player of the match Jane Watson at goal keeper, New Zealand imposed defensive heat throughout while Maria Folau shone at the other end, sinking 40 of her 41 shots.

Captain Laura Langman said the result proved they have been working on the right things, even while losing three times to Australia in the past month.

“We were just really calm and balanced and that’s something we hadn’t had in our previous matches,” Langman said.

AAP