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Silver Ferns 48 Aotearoa Men 67
Fulltime
15th minute - Ferns will win this quarter and take some consolation from a big loss. Wilson called for held ball on her shot.
Wetere hits a long shot to finish the game, Men 67-48
13th minute - Mistakes creeping into both teams, but Vercoe goals from distance again. Selby-Rickit finding her groove and keeps the Ferns ahead for the quarter.
Wilson goals from range and the men turn the centre pass over, Men 65-46
11th minute - Tana comes at centre for the men and Vercoe slots from long range.
Fitzpatrick rebounds a men's miss and Selby-Rickit scores at the other end. Ferns win another turnover, but throw it away, Men 63-44
Ninth minute - Jeffries misses, but Vercoe is there for the rebound and scores. Saunders finds Selby-Rickit cutting to the goal to score, Men 61-42
Seventh minute - Vercoe goals to stop a Ferns run. Men bring on Tainui-Knox and Apisai in the defensive circle.
Selby-Rickit goals and Ferns lead this quarter. Fitzpatrick intercepts and Wilson makes the men pay, Men 59-41
Fifth minute - Wilson goals and Nweke misses, but gathers her rebound to score. Nweke may have given her marker a nudge there, but good on her.
Selby-Rickit comes on for Nweke, with Wilson moving to shooter. Selby-Rickit is short with her first shot, but Wilson rebounds and scores, Men 57-39
Third minute - Wilson scores for back-to-back goals, but the men find Jeffries wide open under goal in reply. Vercoe misses again, but converts the rebound, Men 57-36
First minute - Men have centre pass and Caleb Vercoe fires his first shot over goal. Souness finds Nweke under goal and she scores, Men 55-35
Third quarter
Ferns far more competitive in that quarter, really tightening up their defence and limiting the men's opportunities. Geldard's exit may have helped that.
Nweke was a perfect 8/8 and looks more assured under goal, presenting a big target for her feeders. Men only won that quarter 15-13.
15th minute - Saunders finds Nweke under goal and she scores.
Wilson fires a pass to Nweke that hits the goal, but deflects off a defender. Nweke scores off the inbounds, Men 55-34
13th minute - Smith steadies the ship for the men and Wilson misses from long range. Jeffries restores a 20-goal lead with centre pass to come, Men 52-32
11th minute - Ferns score three in a row and reduced the margin to 20 goals, but it's small victories right now.
Another defensive tip from Karaka provides another chance for the Ferns to whittle away the deficit and Wilson converts, Men 50-31
Ninth minute - Geldard is replaced by Jeffries under goal for the men, Heffernan and Fizpatrick come on for Johnson and Jury for the Ferns.
Jeffries immediately slots his first shot, but Karaka has an intercept for the Ferns. Wilson misses her shot, but deflected out by Rich and Nweke scores, Men 49-28
Seventh minute - Smith misses a shot and Wilson takes advantage at the other end, but the Ferns break on centre pass and can't take full advantage.
Vercoe steals the ball in midcourt, Smith misses again and Geldard converts the rebound, Men 48-25
Fifth minute - Wilson misses and the men answer with consecutive goals. Johnson is called for footwork and Smith scores, men will have centre pass, Men 46-24
Third minute - Ferns have forced a couple of turnovers, squandering one, but converting another through Wilson. Nweke makes it back-to-back goals for the Ferns, Men 42-23
First minute - Ferns have centre pass, but immediately turn the ball over - not a good start to the third quarter.
Halftime
Geldard still shoting 31/32, but the men are simply putting up more shots - almost twice as many. Nweke has scored five goals since her last miss, but passing up an easy opportunity is a no-no at this level and her team paid for it.
15th minute - Men have already scored 20 goals in this quarter. Nweke has the ball under goal, but throws it back out... Wilson misses the second attempt from a far worse position.
Nweke doesn't pass up the shot this time, but Geldard slots a shot from distance, as the quarter ends, Men 40-21
13th minute - Saunders enters the game for Crampton. Nice aerial pass from Smith to Geldard for an easy goal and Nweke is called for obstruction at the other end, Men 37-19
11th minute - Johnson has a turnover, but Wilson can't capitalise under goal.
Wilson has a shot blocked by Rich, but he lands out of court. Wilson goals from the inbounds, Men 34-18
Ninth minute - Nweke is starting look more assured under goal, but the Ferns can't create turnovers to peg back the score. Karaka gets a tip, but straight to an opponent to score.
Basketball-style layup for Geldard, Men 32-17
Seventh minute - Men have scored five straight goals, but Nweke breaks the run. Rich is cautioned by the umpires for his marking.
Geldard misses for the first time, but converts the rebound, Men 29-15
Fifth minute - Johnson replaces Heffernan at WD for the Ferns. Crampton finds Nweke and she scores.
Crampton finds Nweke again, but her shot is heavy and rebounds to the men for Geldard to score.
Wilson has her first miss of the game, Men 26-13
Third minute - Vercoe turns the ball over at the centre pass, but steals it back for Geldard to score. Nweke is safe for the Ferns, but the men turn the ball over again and the lead reaches double figures, Men 22-12
First minute - Vercoe replaces Tana at WA for the men.
Men have first centre pass and Geldard converts. Crampton finds Nweke under goal, but she misses again, grabs the rebound and scores, Men 19-11
First quarter
Wilson is still shooting faultlessly (8/8) for the Ferns, but Geldard (12/12) is more than matching her at the other end. Ferns on the wrong end of a 16-6 penalty count in that quarter and Nweke has only taken four shots as primary shooter.
15th minute - Karaka replaces Fitzpatrick, Souness creates a turnover, but the ball is thrown back to the men. Smith misses again, but Geldard converts the rebound.
Nweke misses from point blank, but Jury saves the day at the other end with an intercept. Nweke converts this time, Men 18-10
13th minute - Wilson breaks at the centre pass and the men have another chance to grow the lead. Smith misses, but has a second chance and takes advantage, Men 17-8
11th minute - After a few hiccups at the start, the Ferns are humming now, but still looking for a way to make up that deficit.
Wilson can't gather a long pass and the men have a chance to stretch their lead. Smith goals, Men 14-8
Ninth minute - Wilson on target early, but so is Geldard who has slotted 7/7 to start. In fact, the men haven't missed as a unit yet.
Wilson and Geldard going goal for goal, Wilson from distance and Geldard under goal, Men 11-7
Seventh minute - Wilson slots a mid-range goal to stop the rot for the Ferns.
Ferns struggling to cut the supply of ball to towering Geldard under goal, Men 9-4
Fifth minute - Men take advatnage of a turnover to regain the lead and then Wetere cuts off a circle feed, as the lead stretches to two, then three.
Heffernan finds Nweke under goal with a long pass, but she misses and Geldard stretches the lead to four goals, Men 6-2
Third minute - Wilson equalises for the Ferns and Crampton makes a defensive play to create a turnover. Nweke slots her first attempt to take the lead, Ferns 2-1
First minute - Men have the first centre pass, but immediately turn the ball over. Ferns can't capitalise though and Smith scores first, Men 1-0
3:44pm - Starting line-ups are posted, with Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua naming what seems to be her top combination.
Ferns: GS-Nweke, GA-Wilson, WA-Crampton-C-Souness, WD-Heffernan, GD-Fitzpatrick, GK-Jury
Men: GS-Geldard, GA-Smith, WA-Tana, C-Grimmer, WD-Tangira, GD-Wetere, GK-Rich
*****
Kia ora, good afternoon and welcome to Newshub's coverage of the Quad Series final between the NZ Men and Silver Ferns - a classic male v female showdown.
In their final hitout before departing for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, the NZ women will try to reverse the result from their previous encounter against the men, when they lost 61-46 in round-robin play.
Resting towering shooter Grace Nweke for the clash, the Ferns struggled to match the men's physicality, leaving the reigning world champions needing victory over the Mixed Invitational team just to make the final.
With Nweke back on court, they achieved that result and now have a chance for payback.
After falling to the women over the past two years - last year's selection was severaly limited by COVID-19 - the men have stamped their superiority over the series, emerging unbeaten from their three midweek games.
Join us at 4pm for centre pass.
TAB Odds: Aotearoa Men $1.42, Silver Ferns $2.60
Aotearoa Men: Timothy Apisai, Jau Gledard, Nick Grimmer, Dan Jeffries, Cam Powell, Dan Rich, Ben Smith, Jaryn Tainui-Knox, Junior Tana, Kruze Tangira, Eriata Vercoe, Matt Wetere
Silver Ferns: Gina Crampton, Sulu Fitzpatrick, Kate Heffernan, Kayla Johnson, Kelly Jury, Phoenix Karaka, Bailey Mes, Grace Nweke, Shannon Saunders, Te Paea Selby-Rickit, Whitney Souness, Maia Wilson
