The scoreline may have read Australia 2 Ireland 1 but the Hockeyroos had a case of the hockey-blues in World Cup action.

Wearing a dark blue "away" strip, Australia picked up three points and maintained its unbeaten record after three pool matches.

But the world No.3 ranked team's lacklustre performance against the 15th best team in the world will only increase doubts surrounding Australia's ability to defend its World Cup crown.

The victory handed Australia a maximum nine points from three starts and edged it closer to a semi-finals berth on Friday week.

Pinned deep in their own territory for most of the second stanza, the gallant Irish managed to somehow to continually repel the home team.

It was a timely wake-up call for the Hockeyroos ahead of their match on Friday against England which beat the Aussie women in the semi-finals at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

Coach David Bell's brigade will need to be more ruthless if they are to challenge the Netherlands in their much-anticipated pool B match on Sunday.

It only took the Australians until the 10th minute to crack the Irish defence with midfielder Karen Smith hammering home a rebound from a penalty corner.

Four minutes later Niki Hudson streamed down the right, passing to Smith who delivered to captain Katrina Powell and she hit a blind backstick shot which rocketed past Irish goalkeeper Angela Platt.

However the unfancied Irish started exploiting some suspect defending down Australia's left flank and their efforts were rewarded ten minutes from the break.

Midfielder Laura Lee dribbled into the attacking circle before offloading to striker Jenny Burke who penetrated goalkeeper Rachel Imison's net for the first time in the tournament.

Australia camped in the opposition territory in the second half but failed to score through a mixture of poor finishing and sublime keeping from Platt.

The 16-nation event lost its third player with South African defender Susan Webber breaking her thumb in the 3-1 loss to Spain.

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