Silver Ferns Beat Diamonds in Constellation Cup Opener

October 19, 2026

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The Silver Ferns have made a winning start to the Constellation Cup, beating Australia’s Diamonds 56-50 at Spark Arena in Auckland on Sunday.

The Constellation Cup is a four-game netball series between New Zealand and Australia.

Shooter Grace Nweke was the star of the game, scoring 40 goals from 41 attempts – she missed just once. New Zealand led 15-10 at quarter-time and stretched that lead to 10 goals in the second quarter.

Australia fought back in the final quarter, scoring 17 goals to New Zealand’s 11, but it wasn’t enough.

The Diamonds were missing two experienced players: Jo Weston and Kate Moloney, who has a finger injury.

The Silver Ferns won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Australia, the world’s number one team, came home with bronze.

If New Zealand win all four games in the series, they will take the world No.1 ranking from Australia for the first time since 2013.

“New Zealand are clinical at the moment,” said Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich. She meant the Silver Ferns were sharp and made very few mistakes.

The next game is at Wolfbrook Arena in Christchurch, and the last two games will be in Sydney and Melbourne.

Te Reo Māori

Headline: Ka Toa ngā Silver Ferns i ngā Diamonds i te Kēmu Tuatahi o te Constellation Cup

Kua tīmata pai ngā Silver Ferns i te Constellation Cup, i tā rātou wikitoria i ngā Diamonds o Ahitereiria, 56-50, ki Spark Arena i Tāmaki Makaurau i te Rātapu.

He raupapa kēmu netipōro e whā te Constellation Cup, i waenga i Aotearoa me Ahitereiria.

Ko Grace Nweke te whetū o te kēmu. E 40 ana piro i ana whakamātau e 41, ā, kotahi anake i hapa. I mua a Aotearoa, 15-10, i te mutunga o te hauwhā tuatahi, ā, i te hauwhā tuarua, ka piki tō rātou mātāmua ki te 10 piro.

I whawhai mai a Ahitereiria i te hauwhā whakamutunga. E 17 ā rātou piro, e 11 ā Aotearoa, engari kāore i rawaka.

Kāore i reira ētahi kaitākaro mātanga tokorua o ngā Diamonds: a Jo Weston rāua ko Kate Moloney, kua whara tōna matimati.

I riro i ngā Silver Ferns te mētara koura i ngā Commonwealth Games i Glasgow. Ko Ahitereiria, te tīma tuatahi o te ao, i hoki mai me te mētara parāhe.

Mēnā ka toa a Aotearoa i ngā kēmu e whā katoa, ka riro i a rātou te tūranga tuatahi o te ao i a Ahitereiria. Koinei te wā tuatahi mai i te tau 2013.

“He tino koi a Aotearoa i tēnei wā,” te kī a Stacey Marinkovich, te kaiako o ngā Diamonds. Ko tāna, he koi ngā Silver Ferns, he iti noa ō rātou hapa.

Ko te kēmu e whai ake nei ki Wolfbrook Arena i Ōtautahi, ā, ko ngā kēmu whakamutunga e rua ki Sydney me Melbourne.

Article written by Shem Banbury - Kiwi Kids News Editor

This article was written using AI as an assistive tool for research, writing, and proofreading.
The te reo Māori version of this article was translated with AI assistance. While care has been taken to keep it accurate, if you spot anything that doesn't read quite right, please let us know

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Which statement from the passage is an opinion rather than a fact?

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