2023 Quad Series: Finals Preview

AFTER three rounds of exciting action this Quad Series, there are two matches left to decide what each country’s final place for the tournament will be.

First up it is the third versus fourth battle, which sees England take on host country South Africa, before another Trans-Tasman clash between Australia and New Zealand determines the tournament champion.

Australia has been the team to beat so far this time around, currently undefeated and looking as strong as ever.

The Diamonds are the world number ones for a reason and despite not playing any competitive matches for some months, they are hitting form fitting of that number one status.

One thing that will please Stacey Marinkovich and her team is that even if they have a bad start to a match (which they did against both England and New Zealand) they are still able to get the win, and even if they are pushed in a game they are still able to get over the line. This will give them a lot of confidence heading into the World Cup.

New Zealand will also be happy with how this tournament has gone, especially since its gap between competitive international netball has been even longer.

Although, the Silver Ferns will be annoyed that despite pushing Australia all the way in game two, they were unable to get over the line. There is not a whole lot else they could have done to get the chocolates in that game, their resurgence just came that little bit too late.

No matter what happens in the final pair of matches, the team that will come away the most disappointed from this tournament is the Roses.

They did not capitalise on a good start against Australia, they were unable to shake South Africa, and they let New Zealand run away with the match in the final quarter.

After how well they did against Jamaica only a matter of weeks ago, the way the Quad Series has gone for the Roses has certainly left Jess Thirlby and her fellow coaches a lot to think about heading into the World Cup.

South Africa will also be frustrated with how the Quad Series has gone, but for very different reasons.

Although they arguably would not have expected to beat either of the Trans-Tasman countries, the South Africans would have wanted to do better as the host country and with the momentum they had in the match against England, they would have been desperate to take it out.

Heading into the final set of games, South Africa will be feeling confident it can run over England this time considering how last game went.

Finals Fixture

January 25 – Bronze Medal Match – South Africa vs England – 4pm local (1am January 26 AEDT)
January 25 – Gold Medal Match – Australia vs New Zealand – 6pm local (3am January 26 AEDT)

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