App users click here for latest updates
NZ 56 Australia 48
Fourth quarter
15th minute - Aussies win a turnover and whittle the margin back to eight with centrepass to come, but less than a minute left, NZ 55-47
Nweke goals to seal a big win for the Ferns, NZ 56-48
13th minute - Nweke scores off centrepass and the margin is double figures with less than four minutes left, NZ 52-42
Johnson is unlucky to lose a defensive rebound and Aussies score, but Nweke responds at the other end, NZ 54-44
11th minute - Toeava to Nweke, who is having her best game for the Ferns, NZ 50-42
Jury get another defensive tip and Nweke scores - that could be the killer blow, NZ 51-42
Ninth minute - Johnson's entry is the first change for Taurua during this match, but things are getting messy, with both teams turning the ball over. Finally, Garbin scores, NZ 48-40
Souness to Nweke, NZ 49-41
Seventh minute - Ferns steal another ball in midcourt and respond with consecutive goals, NZ 48-38
Karaka is bleeding, so she must leave, replaced by Johnson.
Ekenasio misses and Nweke is called for contact on the rebound.
Fifth minute - Jury psyches out the Aussie shooters and tips the rebound into space, but the Ferns midcourt can't take advantage.
Austin scores and then Bruce deflects a pass at the other end for Koenen to score, NZ 46-38
Marinkovich swaps out both her shooters, bringing on Garbin and Wood.
Third minute - Karaka strikes again in midcourt and Nweke holds on this time to score, then Ekenasio off the centrepass, NZ 44-36
Jury leans expertly to tip a shot and regather, Nweke scores and then again off the centrepass, that's six in a row, NZ 46-36
First minute - Australia with the centrepass, but Karaka with another miracle defensive play for the turnover. Nweke can't control the ball at the other end and gives it back.
Third quarter
15th minute - Price overthrows the Aussie shooters, but Jury is called for obstruction. No matter, she makes a key steal under goal and Nweke scores, NZ 41-36
Ferns have centrepass and Toeava deftly finds Nweke for another goal, as the quarter ends, NZ 42-36
13th minute - Heffernan finds Nweke with a halfcourt pass to score, NZ 40-34
Ferns lose the ball out of bounds and Diamonds charge back on attack... but overthrow the circle. They regather the ball back up court.
11th minute - Another wayward pass from the Ferns gives Australia another chance to reduced the gap and Austin is on target, NZ 37-33
Long ball into Nweke under goal, then Ferns get a great umpire call for a turnover, NZ 38-34
Ninth minute - Ekenasio goals to steady the ship, Karaka with another defensive tip, but Australia gather to score, NZ 36-31
Nweke stretches the margin to six goals again, NZ 37-31
Seventh minute - Ekenasio breaks at the centrepass, but the Ferns immediately steal the ball back. Nweke can't gather under goal, so a few rough spots here for both teams.
Karaka gets a defensive tip, but back to Australia, who reduce the margin with centrepass to come, NZ 35-30
Fifth minute - Nice one-two between Nweke and Toeava sees NZ score, then the midcourt forces a turnover, but they can't capitalise, NZ 33-27
Long pass to Ekenasio under goal and she slots an easy one, NZ 34-27
Ekenasio finds Nweke underneath, NZ 35-27
Third minute - Fumble from Ekenasio at the attack end gifts Australia a chance to take another bite at the lead.
Koenen scores and the margin is only five, NZ 32-27
First minute - Australia have centrepass and immediately shave another goal off the deficit, NZ 31-24
Second quarter
15th minute - Austin misses her first shot, but Aussies get the ball back and Austin scores on second attempt, NZ 31-21
Austin finding her confidence and Diamnds chipping away at the lead, NZ 31-22
Ekenasio wins a penalty, but misses her shot after the whistle, as the quarter ends, NZ 31-23
13th minute - Jury almost deflects the ball off the goal, but her foot is out when she regathers, NZ 30-18
Aussies making a run here and reduced the margin to 10 goals, as Kiera Austin enters the attack circle for Australia.
11th minute - Jury distracts Wood in her shot and then gathers the rebound from the miss, but they can't capitalise.
Ninth minute - Interplay between Toeava and Ekenasio sees the captain goal, as Jamie-Lee Price enters at centre for Australia. Karaka steals the ball at the other end, NZ 28-15
Held ball by Souness gives Australi a chance to peg one back, with centrepass to come, NZ 29-17
Seventh minute - Nice bounce pass from Toeava to Ekenasio, who slots the goal, NZ 25-14
Nice play from Karaka at the defensive end, grabbing a loose pass and flicking the ball to Jury. Ferns extend to 12 goals, then have centrepass, NZ 27-14
Fifth minute - The two teams going goal for goal right now, maintaining Ferns 10-goal lead. Nweke misses, but regains the ball to score, NZ 24-13
Third minute - Ekenasio is called for held ball, but the Aussies turn the ball over and Ekenasio makes amends, NZ 21-10
Bruce has moved to goal keep to match up with Nweke, but the Ferns shooter still domiantes in the air, NZ 22-11
First minute - Well, no-one could have predicted that! How will Stacey Marinkovich respond with her line-up?
Signficantly, that's equalled the biggest first-quarter lead NZ have held over Australia, but the Aussies came back to win that game.
Marinkovich has brought Sunday Aryang into defence to counter Nweke.
First quarter
15th minute - Koenen finally breaks the run, but Nweke begins another, NZ 18-9
Australia can't find their target again and Ferns defence quickly clears the ball upcourt. Watson is cautioned for impacting Toeava, as Nweke scores, NZ 19-9
Ferns centrepass and Nweke brilliantly sprinting out of bounds, flicking the ball back into play for Ekenasio to score, as the quarter closes, NZ 20-9
13th minute - Off their own pass, the Ferns feed Ekenasio, the run is nine goals and the lead is seven... then another turnover from Australia, NZ 15-8
Nweke is ruling the air under goal and scores a 10th straight, with centrepass to come... make that 11 from Nweke, NZ 17-8
11th minute - NZ have a five-goal run and Karaka steals the ball in the defensive third, Nweke makes it six straight goals, NZ 12-8
Seven in a row, with another from Nweke, then Australia miss at the other end for an eighth, NZ 14-8
Ninth minute - Nice run here from the Ferns, Ekenasio misses a shot, but Nweke rebounds to score, NZ 10-8
Nweke extend the lead to three, NZ 11-8
Seventh minute - Heffernan plucks an intercept in midcourt and another long pass to Nweke levels the scores, 8-8
Fifth minute - Another long pass into Nweke and she goals under pressure, AUS 5-4
Jury forces an Aussie turnover - their first - and Ekenasio levels the scores, but Ferns throw away their centrepass to concede the advantage again, AUS 6-5
Third minute - Klau crowds Nweke under goal and the Fern can't gather cleanly, conceding the first turnover, which Aussies capitalise on, AUS 3-2
First minute - Souness will have first centrepass for NZ... nice feed to Nweke gets the Ferns on the board immediately, NZ 1-0
7:28pm - Said it before, will say it again... love watching the national anthem being signed.
7:12pm - Australia Men have beaten their NZ counterparts 64-48 in the curtainraiser to the Constellation Cup clash.
The Ferns and Diamonds have named their starting line-ups for the match...
NZ: GS-Nweke, GA - Ekenasio, WA - Toeava, C - Souness, WD - Heffernan, GD - Karak, GK - Jury
Australia: GS - Koenen, GA - Wood, WA - Wood, C - Moloney, WD - Parmenter, GD - Bruce, GK - Klau
Australia are missing some of the players that took them to gold at Birmingham this year, notably shooter Gretal Bueta, who is pregnant.
For NZ, Peta Toeava had been recalled to the squad for this series and is thrown in the deep end immediately, starting at wing attack.
Grace Nweke's match-up with Sarah Klau in the attack circle should be a feature.
*****
Kia ora, good evening and welcome to Newshub's live coverage of the Constellation Cup opener between the Silver Ferns and Australia at Auckland's Spark Arena.
World champions New Zealand and archrivals Australia have sailed almost parrallel courses this year, since the Diamonds prevailed at the England Quad Series in January.
The Aussies won gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, without ever facing the Ferns, who lost to Jamaica in the semis, but bounced back for bronze over hosts (and defending champions) England.
Since then, New Zealand hosted the 'Sunshine Girls' for an ill-fated series, which saw the already understrength visitors arrive late and shorthanded, with 57-year-old coach Connie Francis added to the roster to make up numbers.
While two huge victories should be taken with a grain of salt, at least the Ferns were able to build towards this trans-Tasman showdown, with the biggest benefit being captain Amerliaranne Ekenasio's return from maternity leave.
Her presence provides Dame Noeline Taurua with options in the shooting circle.
Join us at 7:30pm for opening centrepass at Spark Arena.
TAB Odds: NZ $2.35, Australia $1.52
Silver Ferns: Ameliaranne Ekenasio (captain), Sulu Fitzpatrick, Kate Heffernan, Kayla Johnson, Kelly Jury, Phoenix Karaka, Grace Nweke, Mila Reuelu-Buchanan, Te Paea Selby-Rickit, Whitney Souness, Peta Toeava, Maia Wilson
Australia: Sunday Aryang, Kiera Austin, Ruby Bakewell-Doran, Courtney Bruce, Sarah Klau, Cara Koenen, Kate Moloney, Amy Parmenter, Jamie-Lee Price, Maddy Proud, Liz Watson, Steph Wood
'Tough love': Expect ruthless side to Silver Ferns in Constellation Cup series
By Alex Powell
Expect to see a ruthless side to the Silver Ferns when they open the Constellation Cup against Australia at Auckland on Wednesday.
More than 19 months on from the Silver Ferns winning the 2021 Constellation Cup, the two trans-Tasman foes will lock horns again with the first of four tests.
The Silver Ferns haven't played Australia since January - their first match of the year - for a 53-39 defeat at London, as part of the Quad Series with England and South Africa.
Since then, Dame Noeline Taurua's side has built depth in key positions, taking Commonwealth Games bronze at Birmingham. Australia took gold, without facing New Zealand.
As the sides prepare to face off once again, vice-captain Sulu Fitzpatrick warns the Silver Ferns team will bring a different mentality against the Diamonds at Spark Arena.
"We all love each other, but sometimes you've got to have a bit of tough love," Fitzpatrick told AM. "We've been working really hard on making sure we are ruthless.
"We know Aussie don't give an inch. Their style is very much on the body, every minute, every second of the game.
"We're making sure being ruthless is a key focus for us. It doesn't come naturally for some, but ruthless doesn't mean 'smash, bang' all those things.
"Ruthless can be in the way you execute your skillset. Ruthless can be in the way you do your job and have your mates' backs.
"That's what we're going to be focussing on putting out on court."
Despite the Constellation Cup's importance to New Zealand, coach Taurua has one eye on the future - with less than nine months until the next Netball World Cup in South Africa.
While the Silver Ferns won the 2019 World Cup under Taurua, she makes it clear her job is to put pathways in place for New Zealand to remain contenders for as long as possible.
"I can't wait," said Dame Noeline. "We live for these moments, to play against Australia, knowing how good they are.
"We're working towards the Netball World Cup in July-August next year. It's just another stepping stone, but also an opportunity for us to build confidence in what we're doing and how we're doing it.
"We're current World Cup champs, we hold the [Constellation] Cup at the moment. We also know we're starting to build great depth within New Zealand, within netball.
"In comparison to Aussie, they have a huge population of netballers. Our system is really small.
"We have to make sure, once again, we give opportunities to everybody. It's not just about this Netball World Cup, it's about the next and the next, and making sure our generations after actually have stability.
"The work the players are doing now, I can only commend them. We're doing a lot of things in this system about development, about the pathways - we know it's not just about us.
"It's that old cliche - find it better than we received it. I'm really happy about where we're sitting at the moment."
