Kiwis gain revenge

New Zealand have avenged years of heartbreak at the hands of their Trans Tasman rival, Australia, taking out their first Commonwealth Games netball title with a 60-55 victory in the gold medal match this afternoon at the Multi-Purpose Venue.

Australia has long been the Silver Ferns’ nemesis, inflicting last-second losses at both the 1999 world championships and in 2002 at Manchester.

However, since that clash, New Zealand have become the master, claiming world champion status in 2003 and crushing Australia by 25 goals in their most recent contest last year- their biggest loss ever.

Backed by a surprisingly large and vocal Kiwi contingent in the stadium, the Silver Ferns completed their domination today with Games gold and captain Rachel Wilson couldn’t have been happier.

“This smile won’t leave my face in a long time. The Aussies always give you a fight but our game plan worked and we won the gold. It’s awesome,” she said.

The underdog Australians fought valiantly in the final, climbing off the canvas a number of times to almost threaten New Zealand’s lead, which they held throughout the match. But every time the home team came close to catching the visitors, an untimely error or the commanding figure of superstar goal shooter, Irene Van Dyk, would appear to crush their hopes.

“We are devastated by the loss. The crowd was fantastic, unfortunately we couldn’t get over the line for them,” Australian defender Bianca Chatfield said afterwards.

The Kiwis jumped out of the blocks, needing only eight seconds to get on the board through the 1.90m Van Dyk and by the first injury timeout eight minutes in, New Zealand had jumped to a 10-6 lead.

Three early misses to Aussie shooter Catherine Cox would become costly as the locals fell 13-6 behind, but with McMahon and wing attack Natalie Avellino lifting their workrate, Australia trimmed the margin to four (18-14) at quarter-time.

The long ball to Van Dyk was proving effective as the Aussie defence, led by Bianca Chatfield and Janine Ilitch struggled to contain the New Zealand goal circle pair.

However, despite close attention from the imposing Vilimaina Davu, Cox started to find her long range shot, allowing Australia to match it with the Kiwis for much of the second period and creep to within three (27-24).

But late Australian turnovers generated by New Zealand’s speedy mid-court combination of Temepara George and Wilson gave Van Dyk the opportunity to stretch the Silver Ferns’ half-time advantage to seven (36-29).

Down by eight early in the third quarter, the Aussies tightened up on the Kiwis’ fluid movement from defence to attack, edging to within three (39-36), but with the chance to cut it to two, McMahon and Avellino passes went astray.

The introduction of NZ’s Casey Williams to goal defence was also pivotal, and when Cox missed a shot from under the ring with time expiring in the third period, the visitors still had a five-goal buffer with 15 minutes to play.

A quick start to the final quarter from the Silver Ferns had them eight goals clear (50-42) and it seemed as if they would run away with the game, but spurred on by a passionate Australian crowd, the locals came once more.

Sparked by Avellino’s replacement, Natalie Von Bertouch, Australia scrapped courageously, restricting their mid-court players and hounding the physical Kiwis.

New Zealand had just a 57-54 lead with two minutes remaining on the clock, but as she had all game, the former South African Van Dyk stepped forward and ended the Australians’ run as Commonwealth Games champions.

“It was a fantastic win. We’ve done a lot of hard work and we’ve prepared for it for six months, this is just reward for the team,” Van Dyk said.

Earlier, in the bronze medal match, England also earned retribution, making up for a loss to Jamaica four years ago in the corresponding fixture, by coming back to win a nail-biter 53-52.

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