Who loses? England's netballers, beaten 68-50 by world number one Australia and left off the podium at the Commonwealth Games.
The Roses arrived in the bronze-medal match the day after a semi-final defeat to New Zealand and tried to regroup against a Diamonds side that had itself been shocked by Jamaica on Saturday afternoon. Australia, a nation that had previously been in every Commonwealth final and has won the tournament four times, had less time to recover than England but showed a sharp response.
The match opened energetically, with England captain Fran Williams forcing a miss from Australia shooter Kiera Austin at 5-5, and Liv Tchine converting at the other end. England's defence worked to cut off Australia’s forward passing, but the Diamonds soon found a devastating rhythm, overturning a 9-7 deficit to lead 19-11 during a bruising seven-minute spell in the first quarter.
Under Anna Stembridge, England struggled for spark in the second quarter while facing the established shooting pairing of Austin and Sophie Garbin. A loose pass from Williams fell straight to Australia and allowed Austin to extend the lead to 28-16, and the margin at half-time was 35-24.
With Australia 16 points clear in the third quarter, England made a tactical change, bringing on Eleanor Cardwell for Tchine. Cardwell’s introduction helped fuel a 5-0 run that cut the gap to 45-34, and the Roses closed to 49-36 with 15 minutes left, but could not sustain the comeback.
For Australia, coached by Stacey Marinkovich, the bronze took on greater significance as a reminder of their pedigree and professionalism after an unexpected defeat. England again came up short against a top side, their margin of defeat one point smaller than in the pool-stage meeting, which finished 66-47.
The tournament moves on to the gold-medal match on Sunday at 13:00, where Jamaica, who have never won netball gold at the Games, will face two-time champions New Zealand.
