After one win and one loss each so far this season, it all came down to this. The Vitality Roses faced the Australian Diamonds in Bendigo for the deciding match of the test series.
The match ended 69-56 in favour of the Australian Diamonds, with the Vitality Roses unable to impact the flow of the Australian attacking end consistently enough through the game.
The Vitality Roses kept an unchanged line-up from their second game win against the Diamonds, with young talent such as Lois Pearson and Liv Tchine intermixed with experienced players like Beth Cobden and Helen Housby across the court.
The game started goal-for-goal, with an early strong contest from Fadoju disrupting play in the Australian shooting circle, but not quite enough to turn possession over.
A three second call in the Vitality Roses’ attacking end rewarded the Diamonds’ one-on-one defensive style. Sophie Garbin converted the gain to a goal and the Diamonds took an early 5-4 lead. Unfortunately, a second held ball call followed, giving Australia the opportunity to extend their lead.
Providing the spark the Vitality Roses needed, Beth Cobden intercepted the ball on the Diamonds’ centre pass, and after a scrap for a loose ball, the Roses came out with ball in hand and closed the margin to two, with their centre pass to follow.
Kiera Austin took an intercept on the transverse line, slightly growing the Diamonds’ narrow lead before a period of goal for goal play continued, ending the quarter 16-13.
In the second quarter, an intercept from Jamie-Lee Price on the edge of the England attacking circle gave the Diamonds the opportunity to extend their lead to five for the first time in the game.
An offensive contact was called on Liv Tchine and this was followed by an intercept in the centre third, growing the Diamonds’ lead to 22-14. Amy Carter then entered the court at centre for the Vitality Roses in place of Imogen Allison.
The impact of this change created a turnover in the Australian attacking end, giving the Vitality Roses the opportunity to score three goals in a row and bringing the score to 23-17.
Price took another circle edge ball off the Vitality Roses, but Housby scored a critical long range shot to prevent the lead from growing out to ten, and they were then able to bring it back to a seven goal margin, before an offside call gifted the ball back to Australia.
Injected into the attacking end, Jess Shaw made her Vitality Roses debut in the wing attack position, coming onto the court in place of Lois Pearson. Shaw brough speed and determination to her debut performance, providing plenty of options in attack for the Vitality Roses.
In the final seconds of the quarter, Price received a warning for retaliation, meaning England had possession as the clock counted down, ending the first half 30-24.
England opened the third quarter with a goal that reduced the Australian lead to five and the two teams then continued to battle goal-for-goal for the vast majority of the quarter.
Standing up against incredible pressure in the shooting circle, Tchine slotted goal after goal, and with the margin still at five Imogen Allison entered the court at wing defence in place of Beth Cobden.
Housby and Shaw combined well to make sure of a crucial possession in the attack end and with six minutes to go in the quarter the Vitality Roses made a defensive change, with Razia Quashie entering the court in goal keeper, and Fran Williams moving to goal defence.
In the final minutes of the quarter, the Australian Diamonds earnt two crucial turnovers, meaning that the quarter, which had been goal-for-goal up until that point, ended a two-goal quarter win for the Diamonds.
An intercept from Paige Hadley right at the start of the fourth quarter extended the Diamonds’ lead to ten after their centre pass and another intercept swiftly followed from Kiera Austin, causing the crowd in Bendigo Stadium to erupt.
With the scoreline sitting at 14 the difference, Berri Neil entered the court for Helen Housby at goal attack and at the other end of the court Sophie Dwyer took the goal attack bib for Australia.
Whilst the margin proved to be too significant to impact the result of the game, this change resulted in some slick play, with Shaw, Neil and Tchine combining well to score quickly for the Vitality Roses.
The game ended with the ball in the hands of Sophie Garbin, whose strength throughout the full 60 minutes resulted in a 69-56 win for the Australian Diamonds at the final whistle.
Speaking after the match Vitality Roses Head Coach Jess Thirlby said: “It feels like we were in the game but we were soul searching for a little bit more ball the greater the margin became. I think attack stepped up well in the second half but defensively despite some of the changes we weren’t able to sustain the impact for long enough to win enough ball.
“I think there’s lots to be super positive about... we’re still really quite proud of our numbers in terms of our attacking play and shooting 95% again. So, there’s some real consistency in key areas… [I’m] really proud of the way in which Liv has gone about her job. She’s such a character off the court, you wouldn’t believe it when game face comes on and I think she’s most probably pleasantly surprised us all with how mature she’s gone about her business in three back-to-back games”.
If you’ve enjoyed watching the Australia series, don’t miss the chance to see the Vitality Roses playing back on home soil against Jamaica in November. The Vitality Netball Horizon Series comes to Manchester’s AO Arena on 16 and 17 November, you can get tickets here.
Vitality Roses starting seven: Fran Williams (GK), Funmi Fadoju (GD), Beth Cobden (WD), Imogen Allison (C), Lois Pearson (WA), Helen Housby (GA), Liv Tchine (GS)
Substitutes: Amy Carter, Alice Harvey, Berri Neil Jess Shaw, Razia Quashie
Origin Diamonds starting seven: Sarah Klau (GK), Sunday Aryang (GD), Jamie-Lee Price (WD), Paige Hadley (C), Liz Watson (WA), Kiera Austin (GA), Sophie Garbin (GS)
Substitutes: Sophie Dwyer, Rudi Ellis, Matilda Garrett, Cara Koenen, Kate Moloney
Image: @jwestwood_
