England’s Vitality Roses netball team lost their final against the Australian Diamonds in the Netball Quad series at the Copper Box arena in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, with a finishing score of 58-46. The Netball Quad Series was considered particularly important this year, as it features the four Commonwealth countries of Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa, in addition to 2022 being a Commonwealth Games year.
Vitality Roses made the final after beating South Africa 71-47, with their match against the New Zealand team much closer at 49-46. The Australian Diamonds also had a couple of strong matches, having defeated South Africa 60-40 and New Zealand 53-39. The previous England vs. Australia match was a draw at 48-48.
The starting seven for England looked strong, with Serena Guthrie playing center, Eleanor Cardwell as goal shooter and Helen Housby as goal attack. England started slow, however, going four goals down before seeming to find their stride and turn things around to go two goals up by the end of the first quarter.
The Australian Diamonds reacted by switching Sarah Klau in as goalkeeper, which definitely seemed to give the team an edge. An equal number of goals went to each team in the second quarter, leaving the home team still slightly in the lead by two goals.
At half-time and with the score at 27-25 in the home team’s favor, both teams made more changes, with England coach Jessica Thirlby electing to make a positional switch to move Housby back to shooter and Cardwell out to goal attack. Meanwhile, Australian Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich sent Courtney Bruce back onto the court as goal defense.
The third quarter was another close one with the Vitality Roses scoring 14 to the Diamonds’ 15, meaning the English team entered the fourth quarter just one goal ahead at 41-40. In the final quarter, Jo Weston returned to court as goal defense for the Diamonds and made an instant impact, swinging the game in the Diamonds’ favor.
It’s fair to say that the fourth quarter was the England team’s downfall. The team seemed unsettled, and in spite of some great efforts from the Roses and a last-minute switch to send Eboni Usoro-Brown in as goalkeeper and George Fisher in as shooter, they could not regain the ground they had lost. The Roses’ waning confidence, combined with the Diamonds producing a stunning performance in the final quarter, led to the Australian team finishing the quarter at 18-5, bringing the final score to 58-46.
This victory marks the sixth Quad Series title for the Australian Diamonds, making them the team with the most titles in the series and providing a valuable win against the English team ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham later this year. Meanwhile, in the third and fourth-place play-off, New Zealand narrowly beat South Africa to secure third place with a 51-50 victory.
