Ferns miss medal after fourth loss
GOLD COAST: New Zealand’s dire Gold Coast Commonwealth Games netball campaign stuttered to a close yesterday, coach Janine Southby bemoaning the Silver Ferns’ lack of consistency in their 6055 bronze medal defeat by Jamaica.
The loss was New Zealand’s fourth of the tournament, following defeats by Malawi, England and Australia.
It was also the first time since netball’s introduction to the Games, at Kuala Lumpur in 1998, that the Ferns had not made the final, fought out between Australia and England.
‘‘I think a lot of it is just that lack of consistency,’’ Southby said.
‘‘When we’re good, we’re good but we just don’t put that across the full 60 minutes, and that’s been a challenge for a while.
‘‘We’ve identified it, we’ve worked on it . . . it’s that ability to take ownership of what you have to do out there, and do it consistently.’’
Jamaica was more efficient yesterday in converting its turnovers, opening out to a 1511 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Some hardwon defensive gains helped the Silver Ferns claw their way back to win the second quarter 1614 and cut Jamaica’s lead to two at halftime.
Five quickfire goals early in the third quarter gave New Zealand the lead for the first and only time at 3230, but Jamaica hit back almost immediately to take a 4639 lead into the threequarter break.
Skipper Katrina Grant said afterwards that she had always felt the Ferns had the ability to win.
‘‘When we were pressuring them, they were making mistakes and we were getting ball.
‘‘Unfortunately, when the execution came to it, we couldn’t finish and that’s really disappointing.’’
The New Zealanders struggled to make any gains, and too often lost possession on transition.
They battled to bring the ball to circle edge, and the feed into Bailey Mes and Maria Folau rarely looked assured.
The duo also struggled on the shot — Mes converting 12 from 20 and Folau 34 from 44, while Ameliaranne Ekenasia managed
nine from 13.
Overall, New Zealand’s shooting accuracy was a subpar 71%, compared to Jamaica’s 85%.
In the final, Australia, having not dropped a single quarter all tournament, faltered at the final hurdle in the face of a relentless assault from the England Roses to lose 5152 in one of the biggest upsets of the Games.
A handful of calamitous late errors whittled away a fourgoal margin, which was finally overtaken with a penalty shot from Helen Housby in the last second of the contest after she and
Joanne Harten both missed the net.
It is England’s first Commonwealth title and left the crowd at Coomera absolutely stunned.
It was a tactical master class from England coach Tracey Neville but she admitted had it gone to extra time, they would not have won.
‘‘Our players were absolutely dead on their feet,’’ she said.
‘‘Luckily, just a careless mistake, an obstruction, gives us a second chance at the goal.’’ — NZN