Australia celebrate winning the Netball World Youth Cup 2025, while the New Zealand players console each other. Photo: World Netball
Australia ended the New Zealand U21 team's hopes of defending their World Youth Cup title when they outclassed the Kiwis 63-48 in the final in Gibraltar on Monday.
Coming into this year's Netball World Youth Cup 2025, New Zealand and Australia had won four titles apiece in the previous eight editions. New Zealand were looking for a record-breaking third successive title but were scuppered by a rampant Australia.
With World Netball recently announcing a new portfolio of events, including increasing the frequency of the World Cup to every two years, the World Youth Cup is likely to be paused in the foreseeable future.
After a strong campaign, the 15-goal losing margin in the finale was a disappointing outcome for the New Zealanders, but captain Amelia Walmsley was a rock throughout with her impressive presence in the shooting circle.
Defender Charlotte Manley and midcourters Taiana Day, Serina Daunakamakama, Kaiya Kepa and Josie Seymour highlighted their growing stature in the game with fine all-round performances during the tournament.
New Zealand rattled a nervy Australia in the opening stages and got plenty of ball into their shooting duo of Walmsley and Sarah Guiney to jump out to a 7-2 lead.
Slowly finding their feet, the familiar speed of Australia's through-court play and long-range shooting of goal attack Lily Graham got them back into the contest. Non-stop pressure and a late turnover nudged Australia to a narrow 15-14 lead at the first break.
A defence heavy game continued through the second quarter, with respective goalkeepers Manley for New Zealand and Australia's Charlotte Sexton featuring strongly for their respective teams.
Back-to-back intercepts for Manley helped the New Zealanders level up the scores but relentless contesting and the ability to restrict the long ball into Walmsley helped Australia retain a 27-25 lead at half-time.
Australia's introduction of a moving shooting circle changed the momentum of the game and effectively split New Zealand's defensive pairing and Australia bolted out of the blocks to take control.
Substitutions could not revive New Zealand's fortunes, and the Australians delivered a 20-9 third quarter to take a stranglehold on the game when leading 47-34 at the last break.
Scoring the first four goals of the final term gave the New Zealanders a faint glimmer of hope but Australia quickly sprung back to life to deny any chance of a revival from the defending champions.
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