AUSTRALIA has made it three from three at the 2023 Quad Series, recording a solid 65-48 win over South Africa.

Despite the South Africans’ good start, they were ultimately no match for the Australians as they went on to record a 13-goal win.

The match began very tightly, much closer than may have been expected.

The two sides went goal-for-goal and it took half the quarter for the Australians to finally break the shackles and establish any sort of solid lead.

Australia’s lead was out to as much as four, but thanks to a long bomb on the siren nailed by Ine-Mari Venter, the Australian lead at the first change was just three.

The Diamonds were the ones to get the better start to the second quarter, with the Australian lead extending out to as much as eight goals in the opening five or so minutes of the quarter.

This is where things really started to open up for the Diamonds, as South Africa struggled to keep up and real back in the Australian lead.

What was only a three-goal margin at the first change had grown to seven goals in favour of the Diamonds by the time the teams went in for the main break.

Both sides made several changes at half time, which saw Tara Hinchliffe come on for her debut in a Diamonds dress, and she did not take long to get involved in the game with a stellar intercept inside the opening minute of the third quarter.

Even with a number of new players on the court it did not matter for the Diamonds as they continued to maintain their buffer, even stretching it out to as much as 10 goals midway through the term.

The Diamonds continued to pile on the pain on the South Africans, as the lead extended even further out to 13 as the teams went into the final change.

The Diamonds spiced up the combinations in the final quarter, and it hardly halted their scoreboard pressure.

The margin got out to as much as 15 goals and although the Proteas were able to reel in the lead slightly, it was not close to enough as the Diamonds closed out the game to record a dominant win.

For the Diamonds, Kiera Austin (18 feeds, 13 assists, five deflections) recorded the most intercepts for Australia as she spent the final quarter out at wing attack.

Paige Hadley (27 feeds, 17 assists) also had a great game despite not being out there for the entire contest.

Meanwhile for South Africa, Venter was inaccurate but still put up the majority of the Proteas’ goals, while Izette Griesel (28 feeds, 12 assists) and Bongiwe Msomi (24 feeds, 14 assists) also had good games through midcourt.

SOUTH AFRICA  15 | 13 | 10 | 10 (48)
AUSTRALIA         18 | 17 | 16 | 14 (55)

Starting Sevens

South Africa

GS: Ine-Mari Venter
GA: Nichole Taljaard
WA: Izette Griesel
C: Bongiwe Msomi
WD: Monique Reyeneke Meyer
GD: Shadine van der Merwe
GK: Zanele Vimbela

Australia

GS: Sophie Garbin
GA: Kiera Austin
WA: Paige Hadley
C: Jaime-Lee Price
WD: Ash Brazill
GD: Sunday Aryang
GK:  Sarah Klau