England Roses no match for Australia Diamonds at raucous Leeds Arena

The home heroines’ every goal, every interception and every pass was cheered to the rafters by the near-5,000 crowd, the highest attendance for a netball game in the county and a great advert for international sport in Yorkshire.

But for all the energy and enthusiasm coming down from the fans in a stand that curves around the side of the court creating an imposing ampitheatre, Australia’s Diamonds shone too brightly.

A week on from defeating England by two points on the opening Nations Cup weekend in London, Australia won the final by a much-wider 20 points in Leeds, defeating Jess Thirlby’s Roses 69-49.

And six months on from Australia’s victory over England in the World Cup final in Cape Town, the Diamonds continue to raise the bar.

England are at least the second best netball team in the world, a fact they proved on Saturday with a nerve-shredding one-point win over New Zealand in the first game of the weekend double-header in Leeds, ensuring they came back 24 hours later for the showpiece final with Australia.

But how much that exertion took out of England was obvious as they faded in the second half as Thirlby tries to give younger players exposure to playing against the very best.

One player who has had many a tussle with Australia down the years is Roses goal attack Helen Housby, a veteran of the Commonwealth Games final of 2018 and last summer’s World Cup final.

“They’re so tough to play and there’s a reason why they’re No 1 in the world; they’re so physical, they’re so well-drilled and they communicate really well,” said Housby.

“It was frustrating for us, but credit to the Aussies, they played a good game.

“You could tell we weren’t as fresh as some of their players, a lot of their players didn’t play big minutes yesterday and it does matter. But that’s one of their amazing qualities, their strength in depth. They’re a team of world beaters.”

But despite the margin of defeat, Housby saw plenty from her team-mates to feel confident they can run the Diamonds close in the future. “It’s an amazing experience for us, our defensive end has probably never played against these Australian combinations before, so it’s huge,” she told The Yorkshire Post.

“We’re going to build from this. Some of the girls need a more caps under their belt to feel comfortable in these environments, but we’ll definitely get there.”

For the Yorkshire crowd there were two homegrown players in the starting seven for the Roses.

Nat Metcalf has been around for the best part of a decade, first coming to prominence as Nat Haythorthwaite, a youngster bristling with potential at the Yorkshire Jets.

Despite the disbanding of that club, Haythornthwaite’s talent was obvious and it was not long before she was back playing in Netball Super League with Wasps and onto England, for whom she played a pivotal role in that never-to-be-forgotten Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning performance on the Gold Coast back in 2018.

After a spell playing domestically in Australia, she is back in England, living in Doncaster and commuting to Manchester to play for the champions Thunder and has become a key member of Jess Thirlby’s team, having played in last summer’s World Cup final.

Alongside her yesterday was Imogen Allison, the World Cup finalist from Huddersfield who has emerged in the last couple of years.

Allison went through the Yorkshire netball pathway before pursuing her career at Bath. Allison was playing with her left leg in heavy strapping after injuring it in the final group game against New Zealand just 24 hours earlier.

The England centre was immediately involved, trying to help the Roses keep in stride with the relentless pace of the Australian Diamonds, which they managed by trading the first six points before a run of five straight points put Australia in command.

Allison brought the crowd to its feet with threaded pass from the right to goal shooter Housby as England clung on in the first quarter, closing to within four at the hooter having at one stage trailed by seven.

The energetic Housby is a master of the no-look pass and had Sasha Glasgow converted on one from under the net with four minutes of the second quarter remaining, England would have been within three.

As it was, the ball rimmed out and within a minute and a half, Australia had extended their lead to eight points again. It was a daunting 10 by the half-time interval.

Any hopes of a comeback were quickly extinguished in the third, Thirlby making a raft of changes and Australia refusing to show any mercy - when have they ever in any sport? Three times in the final quarter, England players were sent crashing to the hardboard court by Aussie elbows, these Diamonds characteristically rough.

By the end the 20-point margin did not flatter the Aussies, even if the crowd remained hopeful and appreciative to the bitter end.

“It was an awesome experience,” said Housby. “I’ve played in Leeds before, though not internationally, but I love it. It’s only a couple of hours from my house, I’m a northern girl.

“I love the ampi-theatre as well, I’ve played it once before in Sydney and it gives it a theatre vibe and it looks quite intimidating.”