Penalty corner specialist Luke Doerner scored four times and Jamie Dwyer three as Australia eclipsed the previous record of 12-3 by Pakistan over New Zealand at Bombay in 1982.

Australia's previous best World Cup scoreline was 9-0 against Ghana in 1975.

“It's not every day that we score 12 goals, but I was not aware that it was a record,” Australia coach Ric Charlesworth said. “I liked the way we played throughout the game, we were relentless.” Glenn Turner scored twice, while Desmond Abbott, Fergus Kavanagh and Matthew Butturini also made one entry in the scorebook.

Australia took 16 minutes to score then led 5-0 at halftime, and finished with three in the last eight minutes.

The teams hadn't met since Australia won 10-0 at the Beijing Olympics.

Australia has six points from three Pool B matches, while South Africa remained winless.

Later Thursday, England was playing Pakistan, and India taking on Spain.