England tried to rally themselves following their semi-final defeat by New Zealand, but came up against a Diamonds team recovering from one of the biggest shocks in the tournament’s history.
Australia – who had previously been in every Commonwealth final and won the tournament four times – were stunned by Jamaica on Saturday afternoon, giving them less time to recover for the bronze-medal match than England.
The Roses worked hard to shut down the Diamonds’ forward-passing options from the start, but the team in green and gold found their rhythm with devastating consequences, overturning an early 9-7 deficit to lead 19-11 in a bruising first-quarter spell for the Roses.
Stembridge’s side, who lost 66-47 to the same opponents in the pool stage, then lacked impetus in the second period, showing signs of tired legs against one of the world’s most established shooting partnerships in Kiera Austin and Sophie Garbin.
A loose pass from England captain Fran Williams allowed Austin to calmly extend the gap to 28-16 and her side kept the margin steady, resulting in a half-time score of 35-24.
The presence of substitute shooter Eleanor Cardwell in the third quarter helped the Roses score five without reply to trail 45-34, but they were still 49-36 behind with 15 minutes left to play.
Bronze is not a colour of medal that Australia ever imagined they would be playing for, but what seemed just as important to them was reminding the world what they are capable of and why they have been such feared opponents.
In that sense, Stacey Marinkovich’s Diamonds shone as ultimate professionals, and England again came up short against a top side, losing by one less point than the pool stage match between the teams.
“It’s so tough after we lost yesterday and the disappointment of not making a final, to pull yourself up. I’m just so proud of the girls, the fight that we had through this 10 days to keep showing up and responding,” Williams told BBC Sport.
“Probably a few of our errors came through that fatigue and the mental drain that being in tournament netball is, and that is no excuse.
“For so many of us, 10 of us, that was our first Commonwealth Games experiencing that and maybe that showed in a final-day game where you’ve got to turn it on when medals are on that line.
“I’m not going away from that World Cup next year without a medal and standing on that podium, hopefully with a gold, so we’ll be doing as much as we can in the next 12 months to make sure that we are in a better position to fight in these final games.”