Ireland led 11-10 at the halfway point at KZN Westville Campus Indoor Sports Centre in the South African city before Emily Hutchesson stepped up for the Australians as they eked out a three-goal lead at the end of the third quarter.

Shay Conroy reduced the deficit for Ireland to get within one goal of their rivals but Australia ran the clock down before Bethan Channing scored a crucial goal to seal a 22-20 victory.

In the pool's other match world number two side Chinese Taipei beat Poland.

Ya-wen Lin set the tone with two goals in one minute and they led 9-5 at the end of the first quarter.

At half-time they led 18-8 and although Poland made changes in the second half, ten unanswered goals sealed their domination in a 35-9 win.

The Netherlands made it two wins from two in Pool A against Catalonia at The Globe Arena.

Coach Wim Scholtmeyer played eight squad members for the full 40 minutes in the Netherlands' opening match yesterday and it was the nation's bench players who lined up against Catalonia today.

The Dutch have won nine of 10 World Korfball Championships, though, and their strength in depth was evident as they ran out 35-10 winners.

Tournament debutants New Zealand slumped to a second Pool A defeat as they succumbed to the Czech Republic 23-11.

In Pool C England secured a second win in two days by seeing off Slovakia 24-10 and Belgium won 38-7 against Hong Kong.

Portugal's impressive start continued in Pool E with a 33-8 victory against Japan while Germany defeated hosts South Africa 29-6 for a second successive triumph.

Hungary showed no signs of mercy in Pool D as they recorded a thumping 36-2 win against tournament debutants Macau.

In the pool's other match, China edged out Suriname 21-20 courtesy of a golden goal from Dongjie Zhang.