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SportsEngland suffer first Commonwealth Games defeat, losing 66-47 to Australia in Glasgow
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England's Vitality Roses suffered their first defeat of the 2026 Commonwealth Games, losing 66-47 to reigning champions Australia in Glasgow. England trailed 18-11 after the first quarter and 35-24 at halftime, with handling errors allowing Australia to extend their lead to 56-35 by the end of the third quarter. England won the final quarter 12-10 but could not recover. Captain Fran Williams acknowledged her side was 'far off our best' but said lessons would be learned from the defeat. Olivia Tchine scored 23 goals for England. The result follows England's opening 83-34 victory over Northern Ireland. England next face Malawi, Tonga, and South Africa in Group A, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semi-finals. Australia are now two from two in Glasgow after also beating Tonga.
Source report
Image: England lost 66-47 to Australia at the Commonwealth Games, with captain Fran Williams saying her side were "far off our best"
England suffered their first defeat of the Commonwealth Games, losing 66-47 to reigning champions Australia in Glasgow.
The Vitality Roses trailed 18-11 after the first quarter and 35-24 at half-time. A series of handling errors in the third quarter allowed Australia to stretch their lead to 56-35 with 15 minutes remaining.
England won the final quarter 12-10, but the damage was already done. The result followed their opening 83-34 victory over Northern Ireland on Saturday.
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Olivia Tchine scored 23 goals for England. The team face Malawi on Monday, followed by further Group A games against Tonga on Wednesday and South Africa on Thursday.
The top two sides in Groups A and B after all teams have played each other once in their pool will advance to the semi-finals.
Image: Australia are two from two in Glasgow after also beating Tonga on Saturday
Williams says England can take lessons from defeat
The Vitality Roses won Commonwealth Games gold on the Gold Coast in 2018, beating host nation Australia in the final, but did not medal in Birmingham four years ago.
Speaking after Sunday's defeat to Australia's Diamonds, England captain Fran Williams said lessons would be learned:
"That's definitely not the result that we came for but it's also not the performance. We were far off our best and never really got momentum. It's really tough when a game blows out like that in the second half.
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"You've got to make sure that you're still going after those small wins and little fights. That's why I'm so proud of the last 15 minutes in terms of getting a quarter win at the end when it was tough.
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"It's great we've had that exposure against a team that's probably setting the standard in the competition. We've got the learning from the experience so we can move on.
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"There's no point dwelling on it. It's about taking what we need from it and bringing it into [the Malawi match]. That will help us drop any disappointment. You've got to look forward."
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