The one England win was an unforgettable one though, in the last second of the 2018 final on the Gold Coast.

Both won their opening Pool A games on the first day of competition and both were widely expected to be the two sides progressing to the semi-finals from this side of the draw.

After a tight first five minutes Australia showed their ruthless streak, repeatedly stealing the ball back to score 7 times in a row on their way to an 18-11 first quarter lead

A 35-24 half-time advantage thanks to some lightning combinations and unerring shooting accuracy grew to become an eventual 66-47 win.

A physical and often feisty game, it featured running battles between goal keepers and goal shooters on both sides. It was also a real statement of intent from the champions, underlining their status as the world number one side.

“We had a lot of Scots barracking for us, I think everyone told us to go smash the English girls”, said Sophie Garbin who contributed 41 goals for Australia, scoring with all but one of her shots.

“We knew we’d have a lot of support here but they would as well so it was awesome. You want to play these games in front of these crowds in this amazing arena. England put up a really good fight I thought, their defence was really physical and put us under pressure pretty much the whole game so it was good to put the scoreboard pressure on them and come away with the win.”

She also revealed the support behind the scenes has been key so far to the squad’s togetherness

“Our parents got to come and present our dresses to us a few days ago. Sometimes in this environment you forget how special that is until you see how emotional all the parents are and it takes you back to that little girl that started playing netball. When those nerves come, I try to just go back to that time.”

England centre Amy Carter admitted Australia’s game plan disrupted them a little too much.

“I think we were a bit shocked at the start by the physicality, we weren’t structured enough in terms of standing up to it, being the first ones to loose balls. But I think that stuff is easy to fix to be honest, we’ll journey through and sort those things out.”

Earlier a full house at the Hydro saw Scotland record their first win of the competition in Pool B, a 56-47 success against Wales

The hosts led a close game throughout although at one stage in the second quarter Wales had fought back to within 2 points. But they couldn’t prevent a 2nd defeat.

“That was a big match for us, Wales is always a closely contested one when we play them. I think I did good but credit to everyone else”, said Emma Barrie, who inflicted plenty of damage on the Welsh with 39 goals from 41 attempts.

“Those in front of me were able to land me under the post most times, giving me great ball so it makes my job easier just to turn and shoot.”

World No.2 New Zealand and Jamaica, the beaten finalists from 2022, contested the tightest game so far which went right to the wire before the silver ferns took it 53-48, Grace Nweke adding another 47 goals to her total.

Elsewhere Malawi surged into an early 19-9 lead over Northern Ireland in the afternoon session, and despite much better second and third quarters from the Irish, Malawi closed out the game with a dominant last fifteen minutes, securing a 64-48 victory.

South Africa and Uganda both racked up big scores to make it two wins out of two. South Africa beat Tonga 96-42 with goal shooter Rolene Streutker becoming the first to score over 50 goals in a game this tournament. Uganda overcame Trinidad & Tobago 80-36

All the teams have three more preliminary matches to go.