Commonwealth Games 2026: England 47-66 Australia in Pool A
England captain Fran Williams said his team was “far from their best” after suffering a heavy defeat to defending Commonwealth champions Australia.
The Roses opened their Group A campaign by beating Northern Ireland 83-34 on Saturday.
But they fell short on Sunday as Australia cruised to a 66-47 win at The Hydro in Glasgow.
“It’s not the result we came for, it’s not the performance,” Williams told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“We couldn’t cope well with their physicality. It’s really difficult for a match to end like that.”
Australia started strong, leading 18-11 in the first quarter and increasing its advantage to 56-35 at the end of the third quarter.
Sophie Garbin scored 41 of 42 goals for Australia, while Olivia Tchine became England’s top scorer with 23 of 25 goals.
England will face Malawi on Monday at 14:00 GMT.
Earlier on Sunday, Scotland claimed their first win in Group B by beating Wales 56-47.
England, which won the gold medal in 2018, could not make it to the podium in Birmingham 2022.
Only two of the 12 players in the squad – Eleanor Cardwell and Imogen Allison – have experience of the Commonwealth Games following the injuries of gold medalist Helen Housby and Natalie Metcalf, who withdrew with a calf injury on Monday.
Jess Thirlby stepped down as head coach in March for family reasons, leaving assistant Anna Stembridge, who was head coach from 2011 to 2015, in the interim role.
