Australian Diamonds defeat South Africa 77-50, complete clean sweep of series

A near-perfect year for the Australian Diamonds has finished with another victory, completing a 3-0 series sweep against South Africa. See the match details here.

The end. A near-perfect year for the Australian Diamonds has finished with a 3-0 sweep of South Africa and the biggest margin of the series. Let the off-season begin.

The World Cup holders added a 77- 50 final scoreline to 19 and 15 goal differences from the opening two games in Cairns and Hobart, thus completing a 17-3 record in four competitions since January.

Coach Stacey Marinkovich utilised her full squad, with all 12 playing at least two quarters and captain Liz Watson all four, and insists she was not disappointed that a 20-goal half-time lead was extended only marginally after a spirited second half from the Proteas.

“Absolutely not,’’ Marinkovich said. “Really happy with the way that we finished what has been a massive year for us, and to have combinations starting, and South Africa also changed things up, and I think it would be disrespectful to not recognise that they shifted things, and they attacked the game a different way.’’

“So we still pushed it out, we still pushed the score and we won the four quarters.’’

“Is there any such thing as a perfect game?’’ Marinkovich added. “There’s always things to improve on. I think that’s what I love about the group. Whilst we enjoy the moment and we certainly will enjoy what has been a really successful time, there’s always time to then reflect and go ‘OK, where do we push and extend?”

“And we’ve been challenged this year. We were challenged in Con(stellation) Cup and there’s different ways that teams sort of run with us, so we’ve got to keep raising the bar and find new ways to be innovative in what we do.’’

The Diamonds have had a very successful year. Picture: Getty Images

In her 80th Test, Watson snaffled the last player-of-the-match award, with 44 feeds, 31 goal assists and 27 centre pass receives.

Donnell Wallam was awarded her first start of the series after a strong impact off the bench on Sunday, conceding 115 games of experience to 39-year-old Protea Phumza Maweni, but nevertheless had a six-centimetre height advantage she used to good advantage.

Her strong post-up game was utilised in a two-talls first-half combination with Cara Koenen, which was well-serviced by Watson and her deputy Paige Hadley.

The Proteas’ head coach, Australian Norma Plummer, stuck with the same starting seven, including exciting young goal attack Kamogelo Maseko, who she had expected would be shadowed by the speedier Sunday Aryang, and so it was.

“We wanted to still put (Maseko) her out there, see if she could handle that, and I think she did quite well,’’ said Plummer, who was also impressed by defender Nicola Smith.

But what finished encouragingly for the fifth-ranked South Africans was a real struggle early. Aryang resumed her partnership with departing West Coast Fever teammate Courtney Bruce and both were on-song early during the outstanding start from the Diamonds they had made a focus pre-game.

Plus-five in barely four minutes was 22-11 at the first break, with Plummer forced to shuffle the defenders out the front of Maweni, but the advantage blowing out further after the break in a brilliant two-way full-court display from the hosts that punished basic skill errors from the Proteas and an inability to penetrate in attack or convert more than 50 per cent of their centre passes.

By half-time the lead was 20, allowing Marinkovich to replace both sets of circle personnel and introduce Amy Parmenter to wing defence, where the specialist starred with six deflections and three intercepts.

But although there was an early burst that pushed the advantage to 26, multiple switches from the Proteas denied the Diamonds the blowout that had threatened, with only a two goal difference in the third quarter, and the lead trimmed further in the fourth before the Diamonds finally scooted away.

The Diamonds were far too strong for South Africa. Picture: Getty Images

It was Plummer’s last game in charge in her homeland against the team she led to two world titles, and the veteran coach will retire — again — after South Africa’s December series against England, in which captain Bongi Msomi and Phumza Maweni will also say farewell.

Hence the significance of the young team that finished on court, other than the experienced Karla Pretorius, who may play on, and Ine-Mari Venter, who definitely will.

“We were patchy and I think there were a few tired legs getting out there, so we needed to change it up, and that was the whole idea,’’ Plummer said. “We wanted to give nearly the whole bench a run if we could because we’re going off to England now, this series was really over, so we were gonna give them a run.’’

Watson, meanwhile, reflected on what she describes as not just an “awesome series, and awesome month”, but an “incredible” year. “To be world champions, to still retain the Constellation Cup, to come away with this series as well, it’s been an incredible year,’’ she said in the first-ever international series in Hobart.

“I think we’re very hard on ourselves and always want to get better and keep improving, but we just need to take that moment to realise what we’ve actually achieved this year, and how special it really is.’’

While Sunshine Coast-bound Watson is first heading home to Melbourne for some social and down time, including Spring Carnival appearances at Flemington, the remaining international event for 2024 is the modified-rules FAST5 World Series.

Scheduled for Christchurch on November 11-12, Diamonds assistant Nic Richardson will assume the head coaching role of a team that includes the recently-capped 2023/24 national squad member Tilly Garrett, plus emerging young talent including Hannah Mundy, Georgie Horjus and Sophie Fawns.

SCOREBOARD

Australia 77 (Garbin 28/30, Wallam 26/30, Koenen 16/16, Dwyer 7/9) d South Africa (Venter, 38/43, Maseko 11/12, Taljaard 1/1), at MyStateBank Arena. Hobart. Player of the match: Liz Watson. Crowd: 3476.

Originally published as Australian Diamonds defeat South Africa 77-50, complete clean sweep of series