Constellation Cup victory for Australia

FIONA GOODALL/Fairfax

OUT OF REACH: Silver Ferns goal defence Casey Williams gets the ball from the Diamonds' goal shoot Sharelle McMahon.

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Australia will be the first name etched onto netball's Constellation Cup.

The Diamonds beat the Silver Ferns 46-40 today at Auckland's Vector Arena to take the series 2-1 and take the early momentum ahead of next month's Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

The Ferns had the better of the first quarter, but could not turn the dominance in possession to an advantage on the scoreboard thanks to eight missed shots in the opening 15 minutes.

They put up one more shots than the Australians, but goal keep Susan Fuhrmann - thanks largely to the defence-favouring umpiring of Louise Travis - was able to put a heap of pressure on Irene van Dyk's shot.

Maria Tutaia, a hero from the 19-goal win in Christchurch, also battled for accuracy landing only three of her seven first quarter shots.

So the Ferns trailed 14-9 at the first break and were shown that, as expected, the Australians were going to bounce back after their Thursday night embarrassment in Christchurch.

The second quarter was simply bizarre.

Both teams enjoyed mini-runs as they continued to give away possession at silly times.

To be fair the defence was responsible for a lot of it especially Katrina Grant for the Ferns.

The hosts scored six of the first seven goals in the second spell before the Diamonds banged in five on the bounce.

The Ferns trailed by as many as five in the second quarter, but scoring the last four goals got them back level at 22-22.

Van Dyk made Fuhrmann move more and the 1.96m West Australian lost most of her potency.

With the scores locked, Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken gave Daneka Wipiiti the ultimate vote of confidence by bringing on the 27-year-old at goal shoot to replace van Dyk.

It gave the Ferns two shooters who would happily turn and shoot from anywhere, further limiting the impact of Fuhrmann.

But the defence orientated nature of the game continued and both sides only scored nine in the third quarter.

That set the series up perfectly; the final quarter set to decide who would win the Constellation Cup.

Liana Barrett-Chase came on for Laura Langman, but the  Langman returned shortly after to replace the injured Temepara George.

But the Diamonds started the final spell far stronger and opened up a five-goal advantage midway through the final quarter.

The Ferns were able to turn the ball over, but gave it back far too easily in the final spell and the Diamonds cruised to victory.

Katrina Grant was the Ferns' best and her partnership with captain Casey Williams did enough work for the Ferns to be at least competitive.

But they were let down by the rest of the side in the final quarter.

Worryingly for Ferns management, nothing they tried in the final quarter worked and should the teams meet next in a gold medal match in Delhi, as is likely to happen, they will need a better back-up plan than they have if things go pear-shaped.

Renae Hallinan, Natalie Medhurst and Natalie von Bertouch were the Diamonds' best.

SCOREBOARD

Australia... 46... 9-22-31-46

New Zealand... 40... 14-22-31-40

- © Fairfax NZ News