Roar Guru
The Diamonds fell just desperately short of gold at the Commonwealth Games, falling short by one goal against England in the final.
Final score
Australia 51
England 52
After eleven days of competition, the Australian Diamonds will play off against the England Roses for the gold medal at Coomera Indoor Sports Centre. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match from 1pm AEST.
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Australia and England are the two undefeated teams of the competition, flexing their muscles against the weaker teams and grinding out wins against the tougher opponents.
In their semi-final, England beat Jamaica by one goal. It was a thrilling match that went down to the very last second, where England scored a final goal to result in a 56 to 55 victory.
The Roses are enjoying a record-breaking Games and will finish by making history in their first ever Commonwealth Games gold medal match.
Australia smashed New Zealand by 21 goals in Saturday’s semi-final to secure their spot in the final match of the Netball competition.
It was another dominant display by the Diamonds, who were able to capitalise early on some Silver Fern errors and continue their impressive shooting accuracy.
Coach Lisa Alexander continued to rotate her Aussie players, allowing all twelve to spend time on the court against New Zealand. The versatility and balance of this Australian squad is its biggest strength.
Who makes the starting seven for each side will be intriguing, given there are many combinations for both teams.
Another interesting factor that may play a role is the number of English players who spend the winter out here in Australia for Suncorp Super Netball.
For this game several players will be fierce international rivals, but in a week’s time they’ll be back to being teammates.
Prediction
The Roses have had an exciting run to the gold medal match, but the Aussie Diamonds are the strongest team in the world right now.
Their form this Commonwealth Games has been nothing short of incredible; shooting at 94% for the tournament, they will look to continue this accuracy in the goal circle for the gold medal match.
While England will try their best to keep it tight, the favourites from Day One, Australia, will be too good and finish with gold.
Australia by 8