A wall of Hockeyroos defence and three goals in five minutes saw Australia open its Champions Trophy campaign with a clinical 5-0 victory over England on day one of the six nations tournament at the Olympic Hockey Centre.

Decisive finishing from striker Katrina Powell with two goals and scores from Angie Skirving, Bianca Netzler and Suzie Faulkner saw the Hockeyroos easily dispose of an out of sorts England.

Australia had command of the match throughout but it wasn't until the last ten minutes when Powell grabbed her second and Netzler and Faulkner also found the back of the net that the Hockeyroos finally put the match out of the grasp of the world No.5.

Powell constantly put pressure on the English defence, setting up teammates with darting, arcing breaks inside the scoring circle while the world No.3's back three rarely allowed the English into their attacking circle.

The experienced trio of Katie Allen, Skirving and Louise Dobson - all veterans from Sydney Olympic gold - created a midfield brick wall which consistently choked England of possession in attack allowing several swift Hockeyroos counter attacks.

The English had the first scoring opportunity of the match in the third minute but the ball was swiftly cleared and from then on they rarely pressed the Hockeyroos.

102 cap veteran Skirving slotted home the first goal in the 17th minute her shot from a penalty corner deflecting off an English defender into the back of the net.

Just after the break Powell's darting runs were finally rewarded when a deflection off an Australian penalty corner allowed the 31-year-old to jam home the goal off her backstick.

Then in a space of three minutes the English were put to the sword as first Netzler scored followed in swift succession by Powell and Faulkner as the English defence disappeared in the last 10 minutes.

It was an encouraging start for the Hockeyroos who last year had their worst season in 15 years failing to gain a medal at either the World Cup or Champions Trophy tournaments.

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