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A vocal home crowd set the tone for netball’s 2024 Constellation Cup as New Zealand ran away with a 64-50 win over Australia in Wellington on Sunday.
The Diamonds were forced to work hard in Jamie-Lee Price’s 50th game, according to Netball Australia.
The first quarters will filled with hard-fought battles across the court as both sides seized momentum.
Courtney Bruce’s return was marked early with two big grabs to land the Diamonds a two-goal buffer but a strong finish from the Silver Ferns gave them the upper hand at the end of the first term.
A Netball Australia statement said that energy out on court ramped up in the second quarters as the Ferns capitalised on mistakes from the Diamonds.
NA said Maddy Gordon and Kimiora Poi’s connection was immense, and, while Paige Hadley and Price piled on the pressure, they could not wrest ball away from the Ferns in attack.
With a 34-25 lead to the hosts at half-time, there was plenty of work to do after the main change.
Sophie Dwyer and Kate Moloney came on to start the second half; Dwyer in particular had an enormous start alongside Cara Koenen.
The pressure cooker intensified throughout the second half with the Diamonds forced to use their full bench as the challenges kept on coming.
With a seven-goal margin at three-quarter time, the final 15 minutes were feisty and saw the true highs and lows in action.
Despite reducing the margin to five goals during the early stages of the fourth term, the Silver Ferns built off their home crowd’s volume to run away with a 14-goal win.
The Diamonds will look to regroup ahead of Test Two in Auckland on Wednesday before they return home for Tests in Perth and Melbourne.
