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Simply amazing. Australia and New Zealand added another chapter to this unbelievable rivalry with easily the highlight of the Commonwealth Games.
The Silver Ferns won back-to-back gold medals with a double overtime 66-64 sudden death win in the last event of the games.
I’m not a netball expert.
Natalie Medhurst, for one, writes for this very site and is obviously far more qualified to talk about the intricacies of the game, and to analyse the gold medal match itself.
But from a purely sport-loving stance, this is a clash that always delivers. ALWAYS.
It’s like the respective federations have secretly hired Hollywood scriptwriters to deliver twists, turns, thrills and nail-biting, cliff-hanging outcomes, every time the two nations take to the court.
Yet, if this WAS all scripted, no-one would believe it.
In the latest instalment, Maria Tutaia, a sporting name I’ll gladly admit I’d not heard before this match, scored the goal that took the Silver Ferns two goals ahead in the double overtime period, and as per the rules of the overtime, gave her country the gold medal.
This after both Catherine Cox and Sharelle McMahon had chances to give the Aussies the win, but were unable to find the net.
Australia and New Zealand have contested every Commonwealth gold medal play-off since the sport was introduced in 1998. The 2002 final went to double overtime and the 4 finals have been decided by an average of two goals.
My first exposure to this rivalry was the World Championship final in Sydney in 1991, when the Australians won by a single goal. Relying entirely on memory, I think they also contested the 1999 final – another 1 goal win to Australia.
I know they faced each other in 2003 and 2007, NZ winning the former, the Aussies the latter, and I’d be surprised if there was more than a goal or two between them in those matches too.
And so from a purely casual sports watching perspective, Australia vss New Zealand netball finals are a must-see. They never seem to fail to provide incredible sporting drama, and I simply cannot think of a sporting rivalry to match it.
But I don’t have to do all the thinking, do I? What do other readers think? Is there another international sporting rivalry that has delivered such consistently thrilling matches over a long period of time?
I tried to come up with a few: Wallabies-All Blacks, Argentina-Brazil in football, USA-Australia in Davis Cup tennis, England-Germany football … but to be honest, they’re not measuring up to the thrills of the netball.
It’s all totally subjective, but give it a go. And maybe we’ll look back on this as the sporting clash that made the New Delhi games.