New Zealand emphatically ended England's bid for glory at the World Netball Championship with a 49-34 victory in the semi-finals.
Trans-Tasman rivals to face off in Sunday's final in Singapore
New Zealand emphatically ended England's bid for glory at the World Netball Championship with a 49-34 victory in the first semi-final in Singapore.
Having thumped Northern Ireland 87-16 to reach the last four, England simply never hit top form against the reigning Commonwealth Games champions.
The Silver Ferns did only lead 23-18 at half time, though that was mainly due to some superb defensive work by English pair Geva Mentor and Sonia Mkoloma.
However, the New Zealanders pulled clear in the third quarter - out-scoring their opponents 14-3 - leaving England with too much to do at the death. In the end, they paid dearly for too many turnovers and a poor shooting display.
Now Sue Hawkins' side will have to lift themselves for Sunday's bronze-medal play-off against Jamaica, who lost 82-46 to Australia in the second semi-final.
Meanwhile, Wales pipped Fiji to ninth place with a 62-47 win, a result that avenged a loss to the same opponents in the pool stages of the tournament.
GS Cara Moseley had an 81 per cent success rate with her shooting, helping Wales pull clear in the final quarter.
In other results, Barbados comfortably defeated Samoa 68-45 to finish 11th while hosts Singapore got the better of neighbours Malayisa 47-36 in the opening game of the day.
