AUSTRALIA is once again Quad Series champion, after it defeated New Zealand 56-50 this morning to take home the title.

Despite the strong start from New Zealand, the Diamonds recovered and came back for the win. The match was marred by an umpiring controversy which saw New Zealand denied a goal due to both umpires being distracted.

It was impossible to split the sides for much of the first quarter. The match was a fierce battle and neither side was going to give an inch as both teams went goal for goal. It took until the final five minutes for either side to break clear, and it was the Kiwis who were the ones to do so. The New Zealand lead stretched out to as much as five, but was brought down to three at the first change.

New Zealand maintained its lead to begin the second quarter, but the Diamonds really lifted their midcourt pressure which made New Zealand have to work really hard for each of its goals. The Diamonds kept coming and as such managed to level things up about halfway through the quarter.

New Zealand then pulled ahead late before the Diamonds pulled things back again. However, the Kiwis still held the lead by the narrowest of margins at the main break.

The Aussies got the better start to the second half, but it was an armwrestle so neither side could get a breather. Australia finally got a bit of a break in the middle part of the quarter, and New Zealand was not getting the scoreboard prowess it had earlier in the match.

New Zealand only put up nine goals for the quarter as the Diamonds raced ahead, leading by four as the teams turned for home. The Silvers Ferns got a fast break to begin the final term, but then the Australians retook control and reasserted their lead.

Then came the controversial incident. Ameliaranne Ekenasio shot what seemed to be a perfectly normal goal, but because both umpires were watching Courtney Bruce fight for position and subsequently take a tumble, they did not see the shot go in and therefore did not call it a goal.

Without the benefit of replays available to the umpires, it was decided that a toss up was to be played and the Kiwis did eventually score off that, but they will no doubt feel hard done by from all of that goings on. It ultimately did not matter as the final margin was too great for it to have made a difference.

Player of the Match honours went to Steph Wood, who was dynamic at goal attack for the Diamonds and did a lot of work feeding the ball into the circle as well as shot plenty of goals herself.

AUSTRALIA         15 | 15 | 14 | 12 (56)
NEW ZEALAND  19 | 12 | 9 | 10 (50)

Starting Sevens

Australia

GS: Cara Koenen
GA: Steph Wood
WA: Liz Watson
C: Paige Hadley
WD: Ash Brazill
GD: Courtney Bruce
GK: Sarah Klau

New Zealand

GS: Grace Nweke
GA: Ameliaranne Ekenasio
WA: Gina Crampton
C: Kate Heffernan
WD: Karin Burger
GD: Phoenix Karaka
GK: Jane Watson