Silver Ferns fade in final quarter to lose Constellation Cup opener amid Taurua saga
Friday, 17 October 2025
At John Cain Arena, Melbourne: Australia 69 (Sophie Garbin: 42/45, Kiera Austin: 27/32) Silver Ferns 52 (Grace Nweke: 37/41, Martina Salmon: 12/15, Amelia Walmsley: 3/4) 1Q: 13-13, HT: 30-28, 3Q: 45-41.
A fourth quarter blitz from the Australian Diamonds has added to Netball New Zealand’s woes.
Stacey Marinkovich’s Diamonds produced a fourth quarter onslaught to overpower the Silver Ferns by 17 goals on Friday in Melbourne, winning 69-52.
The Noeline Taurua coaching saga has cast a large shadow heading into the trans-Tasman series, but for three quarters New Zealand looked cohesive on-court.
Australia blew the Ferns off the court in the final 15 minutes with the game firmly in the balance. The world champion Diamonds had clung to a four goal lead at three quarter time (45-41), but things unravelled early in the final term for the Ferns.
A 5-0 run to open the quarter from Australia quickly changed the contest. Mistakes at both ends crippled the Ferns, who could not stop the ball firing into Diamonds’ shooters Sophie Garbin and Kiera Austin. Australia outscored New Zealand 24-11 in a dominant final quarter.
It was going to take something special for the underdog Ferns to topple the heavily favoured Diamonds in test one. Any hope of an upset disappeared in an error-ridden final quarter, committing seven turnovers.
The result continues the Ferns’ woeful recent record in Australia, winning just two of 12 matches there since 2018. Melbourne has resembled a graveyard with the Ferns losing six straight in the city now against the Diamonds, dating back to their last victory in 2015.
Much had changed since the Silver Ferns captured the Constellation Cup at the same Melbourne arena 12 months ago.
Taurua’s future as head coach appears all but over, while former captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio has made herself unavailable for the rest of 2025.
Silver Ferns star Grace Nweke finished with 37 goals from 41 attempts, carrying much of the scoring load in the loss.
Queensland-raised Martina Salmon, in just her fourth test, produced a heartening display starting at goal attack.
Salmon was composed against the tough Australian defence, looking far from overawed in her first international showing against the Diamonds.
The Silver Ferns could not have scripted a more disrupted build-up to their Cup defence.
The Taurua coaching saga has dominated the Kiwi news headlines since Netball New Zealand’s (NNZ) bombshell announcement on September 10 that Taurua had been stood down.
Even days before the side departed for Australia this week the plot thickened. Gail Parata revealed on Facebook she had stood down as selector in a show of solidarity for Taurua, having finished up last month. Parata did not mince her words either, slating NNZ and their handling of the Taurua situation.
The Ferns were in the contest at halftime, trailing by two (30-28).
Australia resembled a different outfit in the third quarter, playing their best netball of the game. The Diamonds were able to disrupt the Ferns’ ball and capitalised from turnover ball to push out their advantage.
The off-court drama was either going to galvanise the Ferns against Australia or break them, but they started confidentially.
New Zealand could not afford to make a sloppy start and allow the clinical Diamonds to jump out to a quick early lead.
The Ferns stuck with the world champions through an even first quarter with the sides locked at 13-all after the opening 15 minutes.
When the Ferns had their attacking connections flowing into Nweke they were menacing.
Five minutes out from the main break, the Diamonds threatened to pull away, opening up a five goal lead, their largest of the first half.
The Ferns refused to flinch and a goal from Nweke as time expired saw them head to halftime right in the fight, down by two (30-28).
With New Zealand sniffing an upset victory amid the Taurua saga, Australia lifted after halftime.
Australia were highly impressive in the third quarter, producing consistent netball at both ends of the court.
Interim Ferns coach Yvette McCausland-Durie went to her bench for the first time to stem the flow, bringing on Catherine Hall at goal defence and Peta Toeava injected into wing attack in the third term.
Trailing by four goals heading into the final quarter, the Ferns were a chance if they were good enough.
That never eventuated with the final quarter all Australia.
The sides meet in the second test in Sydney on Wednesday.