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Steph Wood shone for Australia's Diamonds with an inspired shooting display helping them down world champions New Zealand and power into the final of the Netball Quad Series in Cape Town.
- The Diamonds are into the final of the four-team competition against New Zealand, England and hosts South Africa
- Goal attack Steph Wood said she channelled her frustration from a below-par performance against England into the NZ game
- She finished with 21/24 shooting and five feeds to her shooting partner
Wood had been frustrated by what she felt was a sub-par display by her standards in the opening win against England but the goal attack channelled her annoyance against the Silver Ferns, with her fleet distribution and fourth-quarter long shots proving key to Australia's 59-57 victory.
With a perfect record after two games, coach Stacey Marinkovich's team were delighted to seal their place in Thursday morning's (AEDT) final with a game to spare as they go for a seventh triumph in eight editions of the four-team event.
They next play hosts South Africa on Tuesday local time, while the winners between New Zealand and England will likely battle it out with the Diamonds in the showdown.
If Australia land a final rematch with the Silver Ferns, it promises to be another close affair after the world's leading two sides — who won two matches apiece in October's Constellation Cup — again proved hard to separate in a tough, physical encounter at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
Just as against England, when they came back from a nine-goal deficit, slow-starting Australia had to show their mettle against their trans-Tasman rivals when slipping behind by eight soon after the start of the second quarter.
They narrowed the deficit to 29-28 down by half-time and then edged into a 44-43 lead going into the final quarter thanks to a late third-quarter strike from on-song goal shooter Cara Koenen.
Then Wood, who also provided 25 feeds, began to shoot with deadly accuracy from distance to constantly keep the scoreboard pressure on the Ferns, who found it increasingly hard to puncture the Courtney Bruce-led defence.
Ending with 21 goals from 24 attempts, the 31-year-old star's excellent movement particularly caused problems for the towering but less mobile New Zealand defender Kelly Jury, who'd been thrust into the final-quarter fray.
"I was a bit disappointed with my shooting against England," Wood said afterwards.
"Sometimes, people say I look a bit angry, so I took some of that and just tried to put out a good performance."
Australia stretched out their lead to five and though the Silver Ferns made a late charge to get the score to within two with a minute left, Koenen sank her 38th goal out of 40 attempts — a 95 per cent success rate — to seal the win.
AAP