Netball: Magic confirm playoffs spot

Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic confirmed their presence in the trans-Tasman netball league playoffs for the third successive year with a rousing 53-44 win over Adelaide Thunderbirds in Rotorua today.

A month of poor form was put behind them as the Magic rediscovered something approaching their best touches to ensure they will have a role to play in the semifinals.

Last year's beaten semifinalists were in danger of being tipped out of the playoffs after losing three of their previous four matches, leaving them needing to beat the second-placed Thunderbirds to nail a semifinalists spot.

They did that with a fine performance sparked by through court fluency which had deserted them for the past month.

The odds are that the Magic will be the only New Zealand team in the playoffs, with Southern Steel probably needing to beat the unbeaten NSW Swifts in Sydney on Monday to stay alive.

A loss will leave them vulnerable, as the fifth-placed Queensland Firebirds are heavily favoured to beat West Coast Fever in Perth tomorrow and draw level with Steel on 16 points. The Firebirds presently have a commanding advantage in points differential.

The Magic were clearly a team on a mission today, with defender Casey Williams particularly staunch and centre Laura Langman in a workaholic mood as they turned in a storming effort in the second quarter to distance themselves from Adelaide.

They were the better team in the opening period to earn a 14-11 advantage then blew Adelaide away to stretch that advantage to 29-19 at the main break after scoring four unanswered goals to open up a 23-15 gap.

The Australians responded in the third quarter, which they won 14-11, but the Magic still led 40-33 entering the final period, a lead they extended with a brief spurt of five successive goals making the game safe at 45-34.

Captain Langman admitted there was an element of desperation to the Magic's play.

"We just wanted it so bad today," Langman said.

"I think in our last four games we were very flat so we had to look at ways of getting that high energy, high intensity back. I think we brought that today.

"We had our backs to the wall. To come out and put on a performance like that was just brilliant."

The Thunderbirds struggled to adapt to the officiating and were heavily penalised throughout the match as they conceded over 100 penalties, more than double that of the Magic.

Adelaide captain Natalie van Bertouch admitted such a statistic reflected poorly on her team.

"That's very frustrating. The Thunderbirds have been very good with penalties this season, we've been one of the lower penalised in the league.

"For us to be over 100 is massive and we have to work out what we are doing wrong."

- NZPA