KEY POINTS:
After making the trans-Tasman netball finale at the second attempt, Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic need to be third time lucky to create history and win the inaugural ANZ Championship in Sydney on Monday.
By edging the Adelaide Thunderbirds 51-49 at Mystery Creek, last night, the tournament's minor premiers earned an opportunity to avenge two losses to the New South Wales Swifts - and give New Zealand netball a boost before test rivalry resumes in September.
No Australian franchise lost to New Zealand opposition on home court throughout the regular season - only the West Coast Fever were denied when a leaky roof forced the abandonment of their match with the winless Central Pulse.
And though jubilant at the final whistle, the Magic's players were soon reminded about the realisation enormity of their task against a team that bettered them in round three and again last week in the major semifinal.
Thunderbirds coach Jane Woodlands was quick to dwell on those unflattering statistics, adding the Magic would take time to recover from a physical encounter and "Sydney at home after a two week break will be very fresh".
After losing their major semifinal 57-56 last week, the Magic were condemned to reach the final the hard way and did so on the back of a decisive scoring burst in the third quarter.
They constructed a seven-goal run early, their lead extending to nine before the Thunderbirds caused some serious anxiety by trimming the margin to two on the final 15-minute period.
Inevitably it was the combined resources of Irene van Dyk and Casey Williams, the two stand outs from the Magic's stable of Silver Ferns, that were instrumental in top qualifiers justifying their seeding.
Van Dyk was her standard metronomic self, nailing 31 of 32 attempts while the anticipation and athleticism of competition MVP Williams succeeded in keeping Natalie Medhurst and Kate Beveridge at arm's length during the Thunderbirds desperate final quarter rally.
Magic coach Noeline Taurua also revealed up another tactical masterstroke, reshaping her midcourt by asking Laura Langman to play wing attack in a bid to sharpen her side's attacking edge.
A fortnight ago Taurua started van Dyk in the unfamiliar role of goal attack to take pressure off junior shooting partner Maria Tutaia, and for a second time her unconventional approach paid dividends.
Originally a specialist wing defence, Langman learned on Thursday she was switching roles with centre and captain Amigene Metcalfe with Taurua admitting the Silver Fern had her doubts about wearing the WA bib for the first time.
"How did she take it? Not well and I still think she's getting through that but she knows it's for the team, she's good," Taurua said.
"Laura adds a lot of movement and speed and she ups the tempo. Amos (captain Amigene Metcalfe) provides me with leadership in the middle and stability in the centre pass.
The positional tweak caught the Thunderbirds by surprise with Mo'onia Gerrard, originally listed as goal defence starting opposite Langman instead of Bianca Reddy.
Taurua was not impressed the Thunderbirds starting line-up was altered after it was pencilled in but Woodlands claimed it was just a clerical error.
"We weren't trying to pull any swift moves, someone made a mistake in the transcript."
Ultimately the combative Gerrard ended up at goal defence for three quarters of the game in an forlorn attempt to limit van Dyk's impact.
Tutaia was an able foil and landing 20 from 23 - a welcome improvement on her erratic showing last week.
Her improvement typified the Magic's rebound from the loss to the Swifts though a lack of consistency remains a bugbear for Taurua.
"We had beautiful patches but weren't able to hold on. It's a glimpse of what we can do but we've got to find that magical bit so we can push it through," she said.
The inspirational Williams agreed a more consistent effort was required to take the title.
"We need to step it up once again, it's going to be quite a good battle. Going up by nine goals (before winning by two) .... it shows we have to carry the effort on for the whole 60 minutes."
- NZPA
