Diamonds Fall Short of Second Constellation Cup Match Win

The Australian Diamonds netball team suffered their first loss of the 2016 Constellation Cup series on Wednesday, going down to the New Zealand Silver Ferns in Launceston.

Australia began the game with strong form, scoring six goals to the Ferns one, before finishing the quarter with a four goal lead, 15-11.

Unfortunately they were unable to maintain this form showing patches of inconsistency throughout the entire match, resulting in a loss.

Diamonds head coach, Lisa Alexander said “it is very disappointing in a number of aspects of the game. We took quite a while to get our intensity going throughout that game and we also just threw too many balls away.”

She went on to say “they did bring what I would consider their A-game for that group tonight and that’s what happens.

“We didn’t adjust and we needed to show a little more confidence in each other and just let the ball go.”

The second quarter is where the Silver Ferns truly began to assert their authority in the competition levelling the score line heading into the half time break.

This 29-29 score line resulted in a number of changes for the Australian side with April Brandley coming on into goal defence, pushing captain Claire McMeniman into wing defence, and Natalie Medhurst was also replaced by Gretel Tippett in the goal attack position.

The second half saw Australia denied of the advantage until midway through the final quarter.

Whilst the Diamonds did manage to pull themselves back in front in the final stages of the game, this was short lived, as they let the win slip away in the closing two minutes.

Claire McMeniman said “there were times when we went missing, there were times when we were particularly isolated and we know we are strongest as a unit, whether that be one-on-one or throwing in some variety.”

Coach Alexander expanded on this point stating “those little chinks need to be fixed and we will need to go back to the drawing board about how we play those last two minutes.”

The Diamonds finished the game with a two goal deficit, 51-53.

The next game of the Constellation Cup series is scheduled to take place in Auckland on Saturday when the Diamonds will be looking to take their second win over the Ferns.