England guaranteed themselves a place next year’s Champions Trophy by beating Australia in their second meeting in three days.
There were fears that the previous ‘dead rubber’ encounter against Australia on Friday – which theoretically was to qualify for this morning’s match – might not be a true indicator to the abilities of the two sides. Wins against Australia are sufficiently rare for the onus to be on England to show that Friday had not been a fluke.
England spent a considerable part of the first half in their opponents half and the pressure bore fruit when Beckie Herbert found the net after 17 minutes. Although Australia’s occupation of the pitch looked more favourable to them in the second half, it was Chloe Rogers who put the matter beyond doubt by converting a penalty corner after Laura Unsworth latched onto a rebound and returned the ball into the ‘D’. 2-0 the final score to England.
Australia are now relegated from next year’s Champions Trophy, as are Germany and China. Both played this morning in the 7th/8th place match, which was won 5-3 by China.
