WATER POLO: The Australian women’s water polo team, the Aussie Stingers have sent a warning to their international rivals after dominating Japan 17-6 in their opening game of the FINA World League Intercontinental tournament in Auckland New Zealand.

Proving their depth in offense, eight different players scored during the encounter as a strong opening half set the Australian’s up for victory, as Japan were unable to mount a challenge to the lead throughout the match.

Despite the win, coach Greg McFadden was cautious in his praise of the teams’ efforts, saying they will be looking to make further improvements ahead of their second game against hosts New Zealand tomorrow.

“I’m fairly happy, it’s our first game and the Japanese are a hard team to play against. They don’t play conventional water polo, they’re very mobile and drive a lot and you need to be on your toes, so we played well in that regard,” McFadden said,

“It was our first game with Gemma (Beadsworth) back in the team, so we need to work on our communication as a team, and adjust to playing together again, which will help mitigate our silly mistakes. ”

While Japan were in the mix during the first quarter, to trail 3-1 at the first break, it was a dominant five goal haul from the Stingers in the second term which set the Aussies up for victory.

Australia consolidated their lead in the third and fourth quarters to score a further nine goals, as Olympic bronze medallists Rowie Webster and Gemma Beadsworth joined 2013 FINA World Championships silver medallist Hannah Buckling to score three goals throughout the encounter.

Stingers captain Rowie Webster was pleased with the result, echoing McFadden to say that more game time as a team will only help to eliminate errors.

“We had a good result in the end. Our game plan had been to defend well to keep Japan to a low score,” Webster said.

“While we probably didn’t achieve our defensive objectives as hoped, we haven’t played a lot of international water polo together, so the win will be confidence boosting ahead of our second game.”

The Aussies Stingers next opponent at the FINA World League Intercontinental tournament will be hosts New Zealand, with the game scheduled for 5.30pm AEST.

Aussie Stingers: Lea Yanitsas, Gemma Beadsworth, Hannah Buckling, Holly Lincoln-Smith, Isobel Bishop, Bronte Colenso, Rowie Webster, Zoe Arancini, Bronte Halligan, Keesja Gofers, Nicola Zagame, Lillian Hedges
Result: Australia 17 bt Japan 6
Quarters: 3-1, 5-2, 4-2, 5-1
X Man For: Australia scored 7 from 9 opportunities and 0 from 1 penalties
X Man Against: Japan scored 2 from 7 opportunities and 0 from 0 penalties
AUS Scorers: R Webster 3, G Beadsworth 3, H Buckling 3, Z Arancini 2, N Zagame 2, H Lincoln-Smith 2, I Bishop, B Colenso

WATER POLO AUSTRALIA