New Zealand have fought back to beat Australia 3-2 in a free-wheeling semi-final at the Hawke's Bay Cup women's hockey tournament in Hastings.
The Black Sticks avenged their loss to the Hockeyroos in last year's eight-nation tournament final, maintaining their unbeaten run this week with a slick attacking performance.
World No.3 Australia's title defence looked on track on Saturday when they powered 2-0 ahead through goals to Kathryn Slattery inside the first 21 minutes.
However, the fourth-ranked Black Sticks quickly regrouped, levelling the scores by halftime through Charlotte Harrison and Olivia Merry.
Play opened up even further in the second half but only one goal was scored, when Pippa Hayward collected a pinpoint assist from Gemma Flynn on the run and slotted the ball home cleverly.
The home side moved the ball well and looked particularly impressive late in the game when veteran playmaker Kayla Whitelock was moved to an advanced position.
The result means the Hockeyroos will face China in the third-place playoff on Sunday afternoon (1:45 AEST), missing out on a place in the final for the first time in the tournament's three-year history.
Hockeyroos coach Adam Commens was pleased with how his side had contested the game.
"As usual, it was a hard-fought match between Australia and New Zealand and, on this occasion, New Zealand came out on top. They're a top side, although it was disappointing to give away the two-goal lead.
"I thought we conceded a couple of soft goals, particularly the third goal with just three seconds to go to the break - we should really be intercepting that ball before it reaches the player.
"There are some details to tidy up, which is why we come to tournaments like this, so we can sort these things before we get to Rio. Overall, we've played fantastically well this week. We've been strong in defence and, before today, we had only conceded one goal," Commens said.
In their past 10 encounters, there have been five draws, while the Hockeyroos have won three and the Kiwis two.
New Zealand's run comes a month after winning a series away to Argentina.
They marched comfortably through pool play in Hawke's Bay with three wins this week before thrashing Korea 6-0 in the quarter-finals.
The final is against tournament surprise packets Japan, who are also unbeaten.
Japan toppled fifth-ranked China 1-0 in their semi-final courtesy of a goal from a penalty corner to Hazuki Nagai late in the first half.
In classification games on Saturday, India beat Canada 1-0 and Ireland downed Korea in a shootout after the scores were locked 3-3 at fulltime.
