Specialist wing attack Peta Toeava silenced doubters with a composed, dynamic performance, recording 29 feeds for 21 goal assists. Toeava changed up the pace of the contest when necessary and rained pinpoint long-range feeds into the shooting circle.
Goal shoot Grace Nweke shot 49/52, and left stranded one adrift of her 12th 50-goal effort when she was subbed off for Amelia Walmsley with 90 seconds to go. It would have seen her surpass Irene van Dyk’s long-standing 50-goal record. Nweke was put under immense pressure by Aussie defenders Courtney Bruce and Jessie Grenvold, but showed incredible ability to reel in ambitious feeds.
Defenders Kelly Jackson and Karin Burger were quieter, but stood up in key moments with subtle impacts in the circle. Diamonds shooters Sophie Garbin and Kiera Austin often made multiple readjustments before attempting shots, and were pushed wide.
New Zealand wobbled in the third quarter. Their 11-goal lead was cut to two when tired, sloppy errors and communication breakdowns began to disrupt their momentum. Coach Dame Noeline Taurua’s changes ahead of the final stanza – bringing Toeava back and swapping Te Paea Selby-Rickit for Georgia Heffernan – saw them recuperate and blitz to the finish with a dominant 17-8 effort.
The physical battle started early, with numerous players on each team hitting the deck. An early Nweke turnover was corrected by a Kate Heffernan intercept.
“When you stand at the back, and you see how your attacking end is just ripping it apart, it’s such an amazing feeling,” Burger told Sky Sport.
“Still got a little bit of work to do. Dropped a little in the middle of that game but the fact we were able to get ourselves out of it is amazing.”
A tighter Australian defence was making the New Zealand midcourt work harder and show patience in feeding the circle.
Georgia Heffernan adjusted the approach, firing a long-range feed into Nweke from the centre third, and the Kiwi shooter just barely reeled it away from the fishing hands of Diamonds goal keep Grenvold. Then centre Maddy Gordon did the same.
In contrast, the Diamonds worked the ball to the circle edge, getting there easily at times. However, Aussie centre Liz Watson put a foot out of bounds, and the Ferns edged out to a four-goal lead.
Toeava looked composed in her return to international netball, producing four centre pass receives and eight feeds in the opening quarter.
Austin nailed a long-ranged attempt to end the first quarter, which the Ferns won 17-14.
Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich introduced Bruce to goal keep for the second quarter, after Grenvold failed to force any turnovers.
Jackson and Burger turned up the intensity, forcing their opposites to repeatedly look outside the circle before Austin settled for a long shot and missed. Burger produced another deflection minutes later, but couldn’t keep it in.
Gordon combined eye-catching feeds into Nweke with the vision to pick off an Aussie pass from a long run-up. New Zealand just seemed to have a little more energy, and the lead stretched to eight.
Toeava and Gordon continued to fire bombs into Nweke, who was winning the physical battle against Bruce and Tilly Garrett.
Nweke fumbled a pass out of bounds late, but it came off Bruce and the Ferns maintained the edge.
Austin again slotted a long-range attempt to end the quarter, which New Zealand won 16-12 for a 33-26 overall halftime lead.
In quarter three, Mila Reuelu-Buchanan came into wing defence, shifting Kate Heffernan to centre, Gordon to wing attack and Toeava to the bench.
New Zealand blitzed out to a 5-1 lead after three minutes, courtesy of a turnover from Burger and disruption from Kate Heffernan and Reuelu-Buchanan in the midcourt. Suddenly, the lead was 11.
The Kiwi momentum saw Marinkovich bring Bruce into goal defence alongside Grenvold. The Diamonds then had a run of their own, with Georgia Heffernan dropping it under no pressure in the centre third, and the margin tightened to five.
A breakdown from centre pass between the Heffernan twins saw New Zealand shell another turnover. A pass from Georgia Heffernan to Nweke was picked off by Grenvold, and Australia had the chance to draw within one.
However, as she did in the Commonwealth Games, Jackson pulled off a gain when the pressure ramped up, and the Ferns salvaged a three-goal lead heading into the final stanza. The Diamonds won the fourth quarter 16-12, cutting the Ferns to a 45-42 overall lead.
For the fourth quarter, Taurua brought Toeava back into wing attack and moved Gordon back to centre, bringing Kate Heffernan off. Selby-Rickit swapped into goal attack for Georgia Heffernan.
The changes worked. New Zealand looked re-energised, and Australia didn’t help themselves when they gave away an offensive contact. Donnell Wallam was brought into goal shoot and conceded another, shoving Jackson in the back.
Toeava and Selby-Rickit were steadying forces in the midcourt, as the Ferns slowed things down and found Nweke with a little more patience. The lead surged back out to 10.
Wallam was pinged for another offensive contact, which Jackson milked to perfection, and the Ferns ran away with it. They cleaned up the final stanza 17-8.
The third test is on Sunday in Sydney. The Silver Ferns have won only one of their past nine tests in Australia.
In the opener, fresh off their Commonwealth Games gold, New Zealand cruised past Australia 56-50 in Auckland to take a 1-0 lead in the four-test Constellation Cup series. The result marks their 11th consecutive win over the Diamonds in Aotearoa.
The scoreline flatters the Aussies. The visitors trailed by 12 heading into the final quarter; the margin allowed Dame Noeline Taurua to make late changes. The Ferns’ effort was highlighted by a dominant third quarter sequence in which they scored seven consecutive goals.
Kelly Jackson and Karin Burger produced a commanding display. The Australian shooters finished at 82% collectively and looked uncharacteristically rattled. They struggled to convert over Jackson’s trademark lean; the Kiwi goal keep finishing with eight gains.
Burger’s movement forced numerous miscommunications for the Diamonds, with passes sailing out of bounds and getting picked off.
The Silver Ferns punished the Diamonds’ errors, scoring with increasing speed and accuracy as the game wore on. Kiwi goal shoot Grace Nweke shot 40/41, accompanied by the efforts of Georgia Heffernan, Te Paea Selby-Rickit and Amelia Walmsley.
New Zealand 62 (Nweke 49/52, G Heffernan 8/10, Selby-Rickit 4/4, Walmsley 1/1)
Australia 50 (Garbin 23/26, Austin 20/26, Wallam 7/9)
Nathan Limm has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.
