Coverage of England's bronze medal match against South Africa is available on Sky Sports Netball from 2.30pm, followed by the final between Australia and New Zealand
Sunday 21 July 2019 14:34, UK
While hopes of a maiden World Cup title may be over, England are determined to claim a medal in a home tournament that has captured imagination and headlines.
The Roses were beaten on Saturday afternoon by a resurgent New Zealand showing all the hallmarks of old, and it's the Silver Ferns who advance to a sixth successive World Cup final.
It's a game that was England's target, having been beaten in the semi-final in each of the last seven tournaments, and while disappointment was etched all over the players faces in the mixed zone, they were quick to refocus.
"We weren't good enough today and that is a credit to New Zealand," said shooter Helen Housby.
"It is very important to us to win a medal in our home World Cup, it is as important as anything to us and we will be going out to win that game."
We weren’t clinical enough and were not able to turnover enough ball. New Zealand were able to go out and put four consistent quarters together
The Kiwis have slipped to fourth in the world rankings after a torrid year but under Noeline Taurua will take aim at a first World Cup win since 2003 when they take on Australia in Sunday's final at the M&S Bank Arena.
Tracey Neville, who will take charge of the Roses for the last time on Sunday, was quick to pay tribute to the opposition despite the obvious disappointment of another last-four defeat for England.
"The girls gave it their all and I am so proud of them - losing by two to a world-class team is not a disappointment because anything can happen in a tournament or in a game," Neville told the media after the game.
"We got the game back into our hands and led by three and we expect to continue to build on that scoreline and we didn't have the legs to do it.
"We had struggled to get the ball into the final third and having Jo and Nat [Haythornthwaite] allowed us to pop and create movement for Helen in the circle.
"I don't think it was emotion but it has been a tough tournament, and we had obviously lost some legs in defence with Layla. She would have added value to the team and we probably needed a change in that end but that's the tournament.
"We have another game and we have to pick ourselves up to go again."
Captain Serena Guthrie joined the Sky Netball team to reflect on too many key errors.
Hopes were high that the Commonwealth Games gold of last year had broken through a glass ceiling against the world's dominant netballing nations, but it wasn't to be as Jo Harten rued a slow start to a huge occasion.
"I don't think that the atmosphere was any different to how the tournament has been," she said.
"We're used to playing in this arena and yes, it was loud but we expected that as well. I think the occasion adds more pressure, you are at home and you want to get into that final for the first time and you think about those things before the game
"It was probably a little bit of nerves to be honest.
"I think I missed my first shot and we were a bit jittery in our attack end. It's just about being in these big games and in these big moments.
"The start aside we got back in the game so credit to ourselves that we were always fighting, we can't go away from here with our heads hung low because we gave absolutely everything that we had to give."
Coverage of the Netball World Cup final will be live on Sky Sports Netball from 2pm on Sunday while Sky One and Sky Sports YouTube channel will also broadcast the game.
