Australia 47
New Zealand 46
The Silver Ferns have only pride to play for in Wednesday's final test in Auckland after last night slumping to their third straight defeat to Australia in a seat-edge thriller in Invercargill.
The visitors' nail-biting one-goal win gives the Diamonds an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-test series heading in
to the finale in Auckland.
It was the first time the Silver Ferns have lost three straight games within the same series since 1998, when Australia scored a 3-0 whitewash in the Fisher & Paykel Cup.
What is disappointing this time around is that the Ferns were the favourites heading into the series after Australia were hit with injuries in their defensive end.
Silver Ferns captain Casey Williams, who yesterday gave it her all to help her side's bid to keep the series alive, could not hide her heartbreak at the result.
"We're pretty pissed off we've lost the series," the straight-talking skipper said.
"It's not acceptable and now we have to go back and see what we're going to do about it."
Although the Silver Ferns in general produced an improved performance last night, Williams was disappointed with the consistency shown throughout the four quarters.
The New Zealand side trailed at each break, but managed to fight back gamely at the start of each subsequent quarter, only to allow Australia to pull away again in the dying minutes of the spell.
The Kiwi side saved their biggest comeback for the final period when, after finding themselves down five goals at three-quarter time, they rallied strongly, keeping the Australians scoreless for the first four minutes to tie the match up at 39-all.
The Ferns took the lead a couple of minutes later, but Australia never lost their composure and reclaimed the lead on the back of a couple of soft turnovers in the New Zealand shooting circle. The home side had a chance to level the score at 47-all in the final 30 seconds of the match, but a wayward pass from Maria Tutaia found the hands of defender Julie Corletto, killing any chance of sending the match into overtime.
While the fight shown by the Ferns thrilled the sold-out crowd at Stadium Southland, Williams could draw little heart from it after the match. The captain was unhappy her side had once again started slowly - they trailed 14-10 at the first break - and put themselves under pressure.
"We can't keep trying to play catch-up like we did, we've got to go out there and nail it from the start," she said.
It was a much more cohesive attacking display from the Ferns, with the midcourt pairing of Laura Langman and Temepara George hitting the circle edge with ease to deliver some good ball in to shooter Irene van Dyk, who was playing in her 99th test for New Zealand. Having been outplayed by her Australian opponent Susan Fuhrmann in the past two tests, van Dyk looked much more comfortable yesterday, finding better space in the circle and not allowing the 1.96m defender to get under her skin.
After shooting at just 67 per cent in Brisbane, van Dyk was back in the 90s last night, but the accuracy from her goal attacks - Paula Griffin in the first half and Maria Tutaia in the second - was not as impressive with both players shooting in the 70s.
New Zealand's confidence on attack was perhaps partially aided by the more conservative umpiring of England's Judith Groves and Joel Young Strong of Trinidad & Tobago. The pair didn't allow much in the way of contesting the ball and took a much harder line on contact and obstruction than the two teams experienced on the Australian leg of the series under Jamaicans Dalton Hinds and Chris Campbell.
While the Ferns' attack end lifted several notches from their recent outings, it was the play down the other end of the court that was a feature of the match. Australian shooters Sharelle McMahon and Susan Pratley at times ran rings around the Ferns' defence and drew plenty of gasps from the crowd with their speed and timing.