Susannah Townsend is not contemplating anything other than glory as England begin their FIH Champions Trophy bid in the hockey hotbed of Argentina this weekend.

The 25-year-old Canterbury Ladies star jetted out to Mendoza on Saturday night with the England squad, having been banned from playing for the club in their top-of-the-table clash at home to Surbiton earlier that day.

Canterbury lost 1-0 to leave them six points adrift in the Investec National Premier Division title race.

Townsend - a former Sutton Valence School pupil - has experienced mixed fortunes on the international stage in 2014 as England finished a disappointing 11th in the Hockey World Cup in the Netherlands in June, only to recover and win silver in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

She remains confident, however and said: “These are the best teams in the world but I am going there to win, as I always do. I’ll be disappointed if we don’t come away with at least a medal.

“It’s going to be special. Argentina is a great place to play, probably the best in the world, in front of big, passionate crowds. It makes it more of an occasion, although it is hot and demanding.”

Townsend’s campaign begins with a clash against Australia in a game televised on Sky Sports 3 at 7.30pm on Saturday.

England face Germany the following evening – again televised at the same time – before facing the host nation on Tuesday, shown on the same channel at 6.25pm.

The Hockeyroos cruelly denied England and Townsend the Commonwealth Games gold this summer after a dramatic penalty shoot-out but Townsend insisted: “It’s not about revenge.

“We have struggled against Australia in the past few years. We want to start well by beating them. That would set us up nicely and give us great confidence.

“We have a young team with a lot of potential. For the first time I’m one of the more experienced players in the squad. This is a useful stepping stone towards the future.”

New Zealand, China, Japan and the Netherlands contest the other pool with the quarter-finals to be played on Thursday and the semis, medal-matches and classification games next Saturday and Sunday.

Canterbury Ladies take-on Beeston on Saturday lunchtime, seeking to end the first half of the season on a high.