Australia has held on for a 3-1 victory over the Black Sticks Women in the final of the second series of the Four Nations hockey tournament in Auckland last night.
Three early first half goals put the home side on the back foot and they never recovered to hand their trans-Tasman rivals the second Four Nations title.
Last week, the Blacks Sticks won the first Four Nations tournament with a 3-2 victory over Australia.
The Black Sticks captain Kayla Sharland says it was disappointing to let Aussie in for three goals within a 10 minute period and frustrating that they couldn't finish off a number of scoring opportunities.
Down by three, the Black Sticks had numerous chances to grab a goal back before the break but couldn't connect with that final pass, leaving the Hockeyroos 3-nil up at halftime.
The home side finally snatched one back 14 minutes into the second spell when Katie Glynn converted a penalty corner with a strong drag flick to the bottom right corner.
The goal sparked the Black Sticks into action and they had it all over the Australians but couldn't find the back of the net despite three further penalty corners and endless near misses.
In the third and fourth play-off, 13th ranked India upset the USA 1-nil