POOLE-born Amy Wilson Hardy is adamant England are capable of something special on the Gold Coast despite a mixed opening day in the women's sevens.

An opening 17-5 victory against Fiji, sealed thanks to second-half scores from Emily Scarratt and Lydia Thompson, was exactly the preparation England were after ahead of their evening clash with hosts Australia.

But roared on by a deafening home crowd, the World Series leaders were frighteningly clinical and punished an error-strewn England to recover from 12-5 down and seal a convincing 29-12 win.

And although her side could not topple the favourites for gold in their pool clash, Wilson Hardy insists England are still in the medal mix should they cut down their penalty count.

"It's been mixed results, the main one was coming out and beating Fiji in the first game," said the 26-year-old.

"We had a lot of nerves and although we got the win they settled in the second game and we battled the Aussies a lot and it's just a shame we couldn't keep the pressure on.

"We rattled them early doors and they had some good finishes but it was probably as a result of our errors that let them back into the game.

"We gave away a few cheap penalties as well which we wanted to avoid, so it's small things but that will make a big difference and we look forward to putting them right on day two."

Appearing for the first time at the Commonwealth Games, the women's competition produced compelling action with reigning World Series champions New Zealand and Australia in particular producing some scintillating scores.

It looked as if England could silence the Robina Stadium crowd, though, as tries from captain Abbie Brown and Deborah Fleming gave them a slender lead just before the break against the Aussies.

But a poor restart allowed the hosts one more attack which they capitalised on to level the scores and then they never looked back – adding three further tries in the second half.

Regardless, Wilson Hardy believes the entire squad will be determined to bounce back and seal their progression to the semi-finals with a win over Wales tomorrow.

"It's been a fairly long journey but we started fresh together in September and this was the aim to peak for the Commonwealths," she added.

"We've come so far since Dubai and the first World Series so I think it's a special group of girls and we can do special things so hopefully we can make it to finals day and show what we're made of."

npower is the official partner of Team England and is giving our athletes the power of support by recording a brand new version of their anthem, Jerusalem. To listen to the track, visit npower.com/teamengland.