Netball: Silver Ferns advance to Trans-Tasman final

Bailey Mes shoots against Geva Mentor. Photo / Getty

The Netball World Cup final will once again be an all-transtasman affair, with New Zealand and Australia pulling off convincing wins in their respective semifinals today.

The Ferns produced another confident and composed performance against England earlier this afternoon, outshining the Roses, who came to Sydney with great hopes of forcing their way into their first grand final at a major tournament.

Today's semifinal was the first major test of how the new-look Ferns attack line, which includes two World Cup debutants - Bailey Mes and Grace Rasmussen - would cope under finals pressure. With the exception of a shaky second quarter the New Zealand side stood up to the challenge, toppling England 50-39.

Australia later toppled the Jamaicans 67-56 in the second semifinal match-up at Sydney's Allphones Arena.

And so the two Australasian teams will once again face off in the World Cup final. Since the finals were introduced to the World Cup format in 1991, New Zealand and Australia have contested all but one title decider.

But this was not the final match-up many were predicting heading into the tournament. With the Silver Ferns coming off a horror 2014 season, the New Zealand selectors were forced to take a punt on several untested youngsters for this tournament, and many believed they would be vulnerable against the likes of England and Jamaica.

The Ferns disproved those theories early on, pulling off a brilliant 52-47 win over Australia early on in pool play. The experienced England line-up meanwhile never really fired a shot in this tournament, and were outsmarted by a more clinical Ferns side today.

It was the first time the Ferns had to stand up in a must-win situation and the team responded well with Tutaia again the leading scorer in the match landing 35 of her 42 attempts - many from long range. Kayla Cullen was also impressive in the wing defence bib, coming up with several handy steals.

The Silver Ferns stuck with the same starting seven that took the court against Australia and Jamaica earlier in their tournament. The team started with the same confidence they displayed in their earlier hit-outs, producing a near perfect opening few minutes, converting their first two turnovers to take an early 4-0 lead.

But it soon got ragged. England had clearly done their homework on the New Zealand attack, with Serena Guthrie doing a good job of shutting down key pivot Grace Rasmussen, putting a lot of pressure on Laura Langman to deliver the ball into the shooting circle.

The England attack struggled to make the most of the turnover ball being generated by their defensive work, with young shooter Helen Housby looking jittery in what was the biggest game of her career.

With both sides making a string of errors, the scoreline remained fixed at 4-3 for more than two minutes, before Tutaia finally broke the drought with 7.56 remaining in the first spell. The graceful shooter settled the attack over the latter stages of the opening spell, helping the Ferns out to an 11-5 lead at the first break after an incredibly low-scoring start to the match.

The poor start from the English shooters forced the coach Tracey Neville to go to her bench early, bringing on Cookey to try and get the attack end moving. The veteran shooter made a noticeable impact, splitting defenders Casey Kopua and Katrina Grant to open up space in the England shooting circle.

By halftime England had pegged the difference back to four goals as the Ferns began to show a few nerves towards the end of the spell.

A more composed New Zealand line-up returned after the break, opening with a 6-2 blitz, in what proved to be the decisive period of the match. Looking to halt New Zealand's momentum, England called an injury time-out.

But it had little effect with Tutaia firing in the shots at will to put the Ferns out to a 10-goal lead at the final change of ends.