AUSTRALIA has made a statement in its opening match of the international netball season, downing England 70-57.

Early in the first quarter it was as tight as it could get though. Both sides were trading blows as many of the plays were decided by a matter of inches.

It took until about halfway through the first quarter for the first proper lead to be established, and it was the Australians who established that lead after making more of intercept opportunities than the Roses were.

This late quarter dominance saw the Australians take a five-goal lead into the first term and left England with plenty to think about.

England was not afraid to make the changes straight away to begin the second term, changing up the shooting end and handing Lois Pearson her international debut. The move gave the Roses a bit more movement in their attack end that was a bit static in the first term.

The Australians kept the momentum going in their favour early in the second term as a strong defensive performance for the Diamonds made it really hard for the English shooters to get into space to receive the feeds from the midcourters.

England decided to change up its defence in the final few minutes of the term, which did give the Roses a boost, but the Diamonds still enjoyed an 11 goal lead at the main break after retaking control in the final minute of the term.

England continued to make the changes to its side, changing up who was in almost every position, but it did not make a difference early as the Diamonds grew their lead even further, out to as much as 13.

However, a three-goal spell for the Roses in the middle of the quarter saw the match tick a little in their favour, and after Olivia Tchine started to get into the game a little, the Roses ultimately went on to win the quarter. However, they were still eight goals behind as the teams turned for home.

Any sort of momentum the Roses had did not last long as Kiera Austin and Sophie Garbin took back control of the shooting game and scored at a rate much like they did in the second term, and left the Roses in their wake.

Austin was a workhorse all game out in goal attack, ultimately providing the most feeds and foal assists for the Diamonds despite not being a mid courter. She almost recorded the most gains too with three, but ultimately Sarah Klau recorded one more of those than her in a dominant performance back at goal keeper.

Unsurprisingly, Imogen Allison was a true leader through midcourt for the Roses, providing most of the feeds into the circle and generating the equal highest number of gains for the Roses alongside Fran Williams, who was also impressive in defence.

AUSTRALIA       17 | 20 | 15 | 18 (70)
ENGLAND         12 | 14 | 18 | 13 (57)

STARTING SEVENS

Australia

GS: Sophie Garbin
GA: Kiera Austin
WA: Liz Watson
C: Paige Hadley
WD: Jamie-Lee Price
GD: Sunday Aryang
GK: Sarah Klau

England

GS: Eleanor Cardwell      
GA: Helen Housby
WA: Hannah Joseph            
C: Imogen Allison
WD: Beth Cobden  
GD: Fran Williams
GK: Razia Quashie