Live: Diamonds play Constellation Cup on home soil

With the run of the centre pass, the Kiwis are in front. Then on the next Aussie centre pass, for a chance to level it up, Horjus is called for a penalty. Both benches and sets of coaches are on their feet. A little over a minute left.

SCORE: New Zealand lead 50-48

With the next centre pass Australia levels it up.

SCORE: Tied 47-all

With a little over five minutes left in the game. Kate Moloney is ready to resume at centre. The crowd is on their feet!

Parmenter comes up with crucial ball in the midcourt.

SCORE: New Zealand leads 47-46

At the midway point of this final period, New Zealand have momentum but they throw the ball over the back line. Grenvold takes the throw in and Australia edges one back.

SCORE: New Zealand lead 47-44

The umpires are going to need to take control of this game because several players have now hit the deck in this final quarter. Good news is Maddy Gordon is able to carry on with the game.

The Kiwis are on a roll and it doesn’t help that Bruce and Nweke went up for an aerial challenge. Bruce fell hard forwards on the floorboards and Nweke fell on top of her. She’s grimacing and slow to get up. But does continue on.

Te Paea Selby-Rickit re-enters the game at goal attack.

Four minutes into the final quarter and the Kiwis take back control of the game. They haven’t had the lead since almost four minutes into the first quarter. Sophie Dwyer is pulled off and Kiera Austin takes the GA bib.

SCORE: New Zealand lead 42-41

Karin Burger jumps on a missed shot from the Aussies and despite some shaky confidence from the Kiwi shooters, they manage to convert.

SCORE: Level 41-all

What the!? Heffernan and Parmenter collide on court. Parmenter is stuck underneath her but the umpire pulls up Horjus for contact? The crowd is not happy.

The Aussie goal keeper has been electric all game!

Final quarter underway. Nothing in the game. No changes to either team.

How are we feeling Diamonds fans? It’s a much better performance so far from the Aussie side. They’re infront at the final break… But not by much. Have the Silver Ferns got one more push left in them?

Dwyer receives a pass in the circle and uses Horjus on the edge with a quick give and go to find a better position on the right hand side of the post. Nice goal.

SCORE: Australia leads 41-38

A mix up between the Silver Ferns shooters sees ball free low on the ground under the post. Grenvold is first to it. The Diamonds send the ball down court and score.

SCORE: Australia leads 40-35

With less than five minutes left in the period, Parmenter and Kate Heffernan bang into each other. Parmenter was preventing the goal attack from entering the circle and gets a big shove. Parmenter raises her arms to the umpire and asks where the call was.

Both Heffernan twins re-enter the game midway though the quarter. First Georgia was spotted having a good one-on-one chat with her coach on the bench before resuming in goal attack. Then the same happened with Kate and she’s now on in wing defence.

Poi is pinged for pushing Parmenter in the back and forcing her into the Aussie goal third. The contact penalty is brought up to the circle edge for Watson to take it. Australia scores.

SCORE: Australia lead 35-32

Jessie Grenvold is absolutely killing it! As Nweke tries to pass out of the circle, she bats the ball away and Australia use the opportunity to add another goal to their tally.

SCORE: Australia lead 33-31

New Zealand made some changes to their line-up to start this quarter. Kimiora Poi gets her first minutes of game time in Sydney at wing attack. Gordon shifts to centre and Kate Heffernan is off.

Important to note, the Diamonds also made a change with 43 seconds left in the second quarter. Bruce came back on in GD, Klau came off and that change has remained coming out of the half-time break.

Dwyer nails a long-range shot in front of goal and the crowd likes it.

SCORE: Australia lead 28-27

The Diamonds convert the first centre pass of the third quarter. It sounds too simplistic but with the run of the centre pass, if they can keep converting those from here on, they’ll set the tone and win the game.

SCORE: Australia lead 27-26

With thirty seconds to go, the Silver Ferns win back more ball. Jackson gets a touch on a ball sent into the Australian circle by Watson and Burger pulls it in.

SCORE: Australia lead 26-25

Swifts star Sarah Klau rolls on in goal defence, replacing Courtney Bruce with four minutes left before half-time.

Midway through the quarter, it’s the Australians with the edge. In the middle third, on New Zealand’s centre pass, Dwyer gets a deflection and Parmenter chases after it. The Aussies add another to their tally.

SCORE: Australia leads 23-19

Grenvold is up and about. She gets a touch on a ball meant for Nweke and the ball rolls forward to the circle edge, but New Zealand is able to pick it up and put the ball throw the net.

SCORE: Australia lead 20-18

New Zealand are called for a held ball in their goal third, trying to feed Nweke and although Australia transition all the way up the court, the Aussie captain overcooks the feed to her shooters. Ball goes over the back line, it’s a throw in for the opposition and the Silver Ferns finish what they started.

SCORE: Australia leads 16-14

Early in the second quarter, Garbin took the ball on the baseline and had a split stance. But Jackson landed in between her legs and forced her back foot over the line. Throw-in New Zealand. They edge one back on the scoreboard.

Jackson has been so dominant throughout this series and the Kiwi goal keeper gets her first gain for game three.

SCORE: Australia leads 15-11

The Diamonds win the ball back in New Zealand’s goal third and Parmenter sets up Garbin with a massive ball sent into the circle from the middle third.

SCORE: Australia leads 14-9

Three games into her international career and Jessie Grenvold gets a big cheer! Clean ball, fair and square that Australia manages to convert.

SCORE: Australia leads 11-8

This last-minute shooting combo is flourishing! Dwyer misses a shot and Garbin chases the rebound and slots it through the hoop. They’re backing each other up and protecting the ball, setting screens nicely.

SCORE: Australia lead 10-8

The team has lifted! They hold up the Silver Ferns for close to 10 passes in the midcourt on their next centre pass. Then Nweke misses a shot, Parmenter chases after it and taps it back into Grenvold as she falls out of court. The attackers reward their efforts and the Diamonds hit the lead throu.

SCORE: Australia lead 5-4

With the next centre pass Australia level the scoreboard.

SCORE: Tied 4-all

Georgia Heffernan misses a shot at goal and the Diamonds get the throw-in. A huge cheer inside the arena spurs them down the court in transition. They edge one back.

SCORE: New Zealand lead 4-3

Oh no. You know those wonderful changes to the line-up we spoke about? With players returning to their favoured positions? That’s been thrown out with the first centre pass. Moloney came off the court with a busted hand. It appears her stitches may have re-opened.

As a result, Watson shifts to centre, Horjus to wing attack and Sophie Dwyer comes off the bench to grabs the goal attack bib.

This can be true Phil! But the biggest issue for the Diamonds were the offensive penalties called against their goal shooters in the final quarter. There was at least five called against Donnell Wallam, Kiera Austin and Sophie Garbin as they tried to push off the body of Kelly Jackson and get free. It lead to a lot of turnover.

Speaking on Friday in Sydney, Marinkovich told ABC Sport reporter Amanda Shalala that the biggest lesson the team has taken from the opening matches is to get the start of the match right.

“For us, we’ve really got to be able to take the first five minutes of the quarters,” she said.

“I think they’ve got little jumps on us in those moments. We’ve got to really solidify ball that we do get and make sure that we do put it on the scoreboard to pass some of that pressure back to New Zealand.”

Australia has been heavily penalised throughout the series and Stacey Marinkovich said her team would be looking for clarification from the umpires as to why that is.

New Zealand has conceded 100 penalties so far, while the Diamonds have conceded 145. That’s a lot of time standing beside your player, unable to contribute to play.

The same two umpires will officiate all four games of the series: Gary Burgess (English) and Alison Harrison (Welsh).

But Marinkovich told the media that she felt the Diamonds were umpired differently on home soil. Whether the coach agrees or not, they definitely need to be more disciplined today.

“In history, for the last four years, we’ve been penalised in New Zealand and it kind of shifts when we’re in Australia … But I don’t think our game plan changes too differently.”

You can read more about that in our analysis below.

AUSTRALIA

Australia has two players out with Jamie-Lee Price nursing a calf injury and Matilda Garrett scratched from the game with concussion so this 12 is literally the only 12 players left in their Constellation Cup squad.

One of the Diamonds’ strengths is the squad’s depth, so that’s taken a hit. As has its confidence. It’ll be interesting to see how they fare without this pair.

Thankfully there is some good news and that is that Kate Moloney is back fighting fight after suffering a nasty finger laceration at training. She missed the first outing but was stitched up and appeared on Wednesday night.

“The finger is fine. I had a few more stitches put in after the game, but the finger is good to go,” Moloney told the ABC.

NEW ZEALAND

Head coach Noeline Taurua has made a single change to her team for game three and it’s caught us by surprise.

In Auckland, Kimiora Poi started the match in WA and put on a solid performance.

She was replaced in the team by Peta Toeava for the Christchurch game, who went from outside the side into the starting line-up, taking hold of that WA bib.

She was phenomenal and really hard to shut down. Now there’s been a direct swap again. Poi in for Toeava.

Keeping us on our toes! Both offer such different styles of wing attack. Maybe this is their trial for the sport for next year’s World Cup?

If you missed Wednesday night’s game in Christchurch where the Diamonds suffered a heavy defeat to the Silver Ferns 62-50 you can find our blog from game two here.