Diamonds fight back against England

By Stephanie Smarrelli

The Origin Australian Diamonds have overcome a strong start from England to win match one of the Quad Series 61 to 55.  

England came out firing with Eleanor Cardwell slotting the first goal of the match and leading the charge for the Roses in attack.

The defensive pressure from England challenged the Diamonds early with a few turnovers in the first quarter giving the Vitality Roses an early nine-goal lead.
 
The Diamonds settled late in the quarter with a Jamie-Lee Price gain the start of a momentum swing with Courtney Bruce stealing possession from the Roses minutes later for another goal. 

Four goals down at the first break the Diamonds returned to the court focused on trimming the margin.

Defensively Sunday Aryang and Bruce lifted in intensity as they started to recognise where England wanted to place the ball, resulting in three gains for the quarter.

Down the opposite end of the court Sophie Garbin and Steph Wood made the most of the opportunities when they came, only missing one goal between them during the second quarter.

For England, Helen Housby started to become more involved while Cardwell continued to find the post prompting Sarah Klau to enter the game at goal keeper while Bruce moved up into goal defence.

Liz Watson and Paige Hadley progressed smoothly down the court and their feeds arrived safely to Garbin and Wood more and more as the quarter wore on.

Only one goal down at halftime the Diamonds successfully worked their way back into the match, setting up for what would be a dominant third quarter performance.

England scored four goals early with a Funmi Fadoju intercept being capitalised on. However, they then only scored five more goals for the quarter with the Diamonds upping the ante across the court.
 
The Diamonds' midcourt were slick not giving the Roses an opportunity to interrupt their rhythm.

In defence Bruce was on the hunt with the defensive work from her teammates allowing her to go on the prowl and tally up four gains and two intercepts for the quarter.

While Garbin shot at 100% for the second quarter in a row holding her ground in the goal circle.

Midway through the quarter, Kiera Austin came onto the court in goal attack and immediately looked at home, adding extra speed to the Diamonds causing a headache for the England defenders.
 
In the last few minutes of the quarter the Diamonds were relentless forcing England into mistakes while moving the ball confidently from end to end.

The Diamonds entered the final quarter seven goals ahead of their opponents having scored 17 to 9 in the third.

The two sides battled it out in the fourth quarter with England trying a range of different combinations to combat the Diamonds but the Diamonds were up for the challenge.

Klau and Bruce worked well in defence confusing the space putting the England feeders and shooters under pressure.

While Watson, Hadley and Price continued to do their job in the midcourt. 

England started to find some rhythm late with a few changes and accurate shooting giving them extra energy across the court but the earlier hard work from the Diamonds paid dividends.

Executing the basics well the Diamonds held on to win the match by six goals.

Next up, the Diamonds set their sights on New Zealand for match two of the Quad Series.