The Hockeyroos match kicked off the Trans-Tasman Trophy, and within five minutes the Aussies had a chance at penalty corner but it went high at the top of the circle and they missed the chance to convert.

The Black Sticks answered minutes into the second quarter with their own chance on a penalty corner, but a mistake saw the ball fly up to the Australian half.

Kathryn Slattery took the opportunity to make a smooth pass into the circle, with a tap from Kalindi Commerford, seeing her score the first goal of the match in her debut game for the Hockeyroos.

In the third term, the Black Sticks had a chance on goal three minutes in, with the ball working its’ way down into their circle, only for goalkeeper Ashlee Wells to knock it out of contention.

It sailed back up to the Australian end, and Kathryn Slattery flicked an amazing shot that soared over goalkeeper Amelia Gibson’s head and into the top left of the net.

Australia were pushing New Zealand hard, and were rewarded with another shot on penalty corner 40 minutes into the game.

Georgie Morgan nailed the drag flick with the ball flying straight into the net after a strong injection from Kathryn Slattery.

With just a minute to go in the third quarter, Gabi Nance injected the ball and Georgia Nanscawen flicked it into goal thanks to a deflection, taking Australia’s lead going into the final quarter to 4-nil.

Three minutes into the final quarter, and Australia were up for another penalty corner – Ashlea Fey scored the corner this time making her the second debutant of the match to score their first goal for Australia, extending the lead to 5-nil.

New Zealand had a chance to come back with a penalty corner opportunity in the seventh minute of the final quarter, with the shot sailing perfectly towards goal only to be saved by goalkeeper Audrey Smith.

With only five minutes to go, Kathryn Slattery scored her second of the match, running the ball up into the circle and flicking it into the net with ease.

The Black Sticks came back fighting and a tussle went on in their circle before Audrey Smith casually knocked the ball out of danger for the Australians.

“Tonight was a good start for us, we set out to achieve and complete a few tasks that we knew would give us a chance,” Hockeyroos’ interim head coach Jason Duff said.

“It took some time to break and we were a little wasteful early on.

“It was pleasing to see all three debutants perform well and compete for the entire match.

“It was also good to see Commerford and Fey get onto the scoreboard.

“We have some details that we need to get right – our penalty corner conversion could be better and we’re not getting ahead of ourselves.

“New Zealand are well coached and proud; they will be a different proposition on Saturday.”

Both the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos have a rest day tomorrow, before the competition resumes on Saturday at the Lloyd Elsmore Hockey Stadium in Auckland.