{"id":637635,"date":"2026-10-22T04:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T04:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/637635\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T04:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T04:12:12","slug":"silver-ferns-defeat-diamonds-edge-closer-to-no-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/637635\/","title":{"rendered":"Silver Ferns defeat Diamonds, edge closer to No.1"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand are on track to end Australia’s long reign as netball world No.1 after pulling off a 62-50 triumph<\/a> to maintain their perfect start to the Constellation Cup.<\/p>\n

With Kate Moloney back from a finger injury, the Diamonds were determined to bounce back from an opening 56-50 loss in Auckland and end their five-year hoodoo across the Tasman.<\/p>\n

The visitors cut an 11-goal deficit to three goals at the final break, but the Silver Ferns refused to relinquish their control in a “dogfight” at Christchurch’s Wolfbrook Arena on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Last claiming the Constellation Cup in 2024, New Zealand can win back bragging rights when the four-game series heads to Sydney on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New Zealand\u2019s Kariin Burger. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

And if the Commonwealth Games champions pull off a complete sweep, it will mean Australia surrenders the top spot on the world rankings for the first time since 2013.<\/p>\n

Grace Nweke (49 goals\/52 attempts) was once again unconquerable in the circle, while the towering defensive duo of Kelly Jackson and Karin Burger proved too difficult for Australia’s attackers.<\/p>\n

Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich conceded they had yet to find a way to disrupt Nweke.<\/p>\n

“We were still trying to find ways to impact their flow to the circle,” Marinkovich said.<\/p>\n

“Grace is such a huge target down there and New Zealand’s very comfortable in playing possession.<\/p>\n

“I thought we were much better at staying with it, but now we’ve got to actually be brave.”<\/p>\n

Several players hit the deck during the highly physical battle and the visitors gave away 84 penalties to New Zealand’s 53 in a desperate bid to force some turnovers.<\/p>\n

“It just means that we’ve got to up our mongrel and go for all the loose scraps,” Silver Ferns captain Burger said.<\/p>\n

“It’s just a dogfight out there in the defensive end, and then we try and keep it nice and calm in the attacking end.”<\/p>\n

The Diamonds started brightly, but made uncharacteristic mistakes to trail 17-14 at the first break.<\/p>\n

Diamonds captain Liz Watson – playing as centre – was pinged for intentional obstruction after stepping into the circle as she tried to corral Maddy Gordon.<\/p>\n

The experienced midcourter gave the ball away to Georgia Heffernan, and the Silver Ferns goal shooter converted easily to put the Kiwis.<\/p>\n

Watson was then warned for encroaching into New Zealand’s circle in the third quarter, prompting Marinkovich to bench her skipper<\/p>\n

With Amy Parmenter taking over as wing defence, Moloney’s influence as centre was felt immediately as the Diamonds claimed the third quarter 16-12 to set up a tense finish.<\/p>\n

Donnell Wallam also joined the fray in the final term to end her two-year hiatus from the national team and was tasked with helping Moloney complete the comeback.<\/p>\n

The goal shooter could only manage seven goals from nine attempts as an under-pressure New Zealand adjusted aptly to contain the damage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand are on track to end Australia’s long reign as netball world No.1 after pulling off a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,111,43,139,69,17771],"class_list":["post-637635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-australia","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-silver-ferns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}