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Jul. 10th, 2011 09:20 pmJust watched the World Netball Championship Final, live out of Singapore. Holy crap, what a fantastic game. Very close, with the widest score gap being NZ up by 6. I honestly thought NZ would win it - Australia were chasing the score for most of the game, needing to break NZ's centre passes to win. I was out of my seat when Australia crept back into it, with the scores being NZ up by 1 at the end of the third quarter (I thought we were robbed on that one, the umpires called it that the Australia goal that would have levelled the score being after the whistle, the countdown clock still had one second left on it.)
The last quarter was fantastic. Australia up, NZ up, both teams throwing themselves into it. For a "non" or "minimal" contact sport... there was a lot of contact going on. And then, with literally a second to go the scores were tied, and for the second game in a row between these two teams we were into extra time.
Extra time was as intense as the fourth quarter. Goal for goal, with the occasional two goal lead clawed back in again. At the end of the first half of extra time the scores were level again. The second half both teams came out even harder - the number of contacts increased exponentially as everyone threw their bodies on the line. Australia had the lead, then NZ, then Australia, then NZ... but in general it was goal for goal again, with neither side getting ahead.
And then, with a minute to go and an even scoreline again Australia made an error in their attacking goal ring, throwing the ball out over the baseline. NZ managed to get the ball up the court, and into their attacking third, into the ring... and missed, with the Australian defenders getting the rebound. With less than 15 seconds to go Australia got the ball down the court, and into the ring.. and with 4 seconds left on the clock scored the winning goal.
That was the point where Dean came in from the other end of the house to find out what all the yelling was about.
My favourite moment? Both teams, after the end of the match, forming a circle together to do the three cheers for each other and for the umpires. AFL? That's what sportsmanship looks like. You can't say that either of those teams didn't play to win, or that NZ weren't as gutted by a one goal defeat in this match as Australia were by their extra double time defeat in Delhi. And that is when you suck it up, cheer the other team, cheer the umpires and accept the runners up medal. Bloody AFL wimps.
I don't think it was ever in doubt that the final was likely to be Australia vs NZ. But there's some interesting teams coming through that will prove competitive in the next World Championships I think. England, South Africa, Jamaica, Malawi all look good - and I'm sure there's others I just didn't see. Sri Lanka has the tallest player in the entire championships. I'm looking forward to 2015.
Till then though, Australia are World Champions. And the Silver Ferns are going to be planning to regain it just as hard as the Diamonds are to keep it.
The last quarter was fantastic. Australia up, NZ up, both teams throwing themselves into it. For a "non" or "minimal" contact sport... there was a lot of contact going on. And then, with literally a second to go the scores were tied, and for the second game in a row between these two teams we were into extra time.
Extra time was as intense as the fourth quarter. Goal for goal, with the occasional two goal lead clawed back in again. At the end of the first half of extra time the scores were level again. The second half both teams came out even harder - the number of contacts increased exponentially as everyone threw their bodies on the line. Australia had the lead, then NZ, then Australia, then NZ... but in general it was goal for goal again, with neither side getting ahead.
And then, with a minute to go and an even scoreline again Australia made an error in their attacking goal ring, throwing the ball out over the baseline. NZ managed to get the ball up the court, and into their attacking third, into the ring... and missed, with the Australian defenders getting the rebound. With less than 15 seconds to go Australia got the ball down the court, and into the ring.. and with 4 seconds left on the clock scored the winning goal.
That was the point where Dean came in from the other end of the house to find out what all the yelling was about.
My favourite moment? Both teams, after the end of the match, forming a circle together to do the three cheers for each other and for the umpires. AFL? That's what sportsmanship looks like. You can't say that either of those teams didn't play to win, or that NZ weren't as gutted by a one goal defeat in this match as Australia were by their extra double time defeat in Delhi. And that is when you suck it up, cheer the other team, cheer the umpires and accept the runners up medal. Bloody AFL wimps.
I don't think it was ever in doubt that the final was likely to be Australia vs NZ. But there's some interesting teams coming through that will prove competitive in the next World Championships I think. England, South Africa, Jamaica, Malawi all look good - and I'm sure there's others I just didn't see. Sri Lanka has the tallest player in the entire championships. I'm looking forward to 2015.
Till then though, Australia are World Champions. And the Silver Ferns are going to be planning to regain it just as hard as the Diamonds are to keep it.
