Gold medals don't come easy if you happen to be a Kiwi bloke taking on your Aussie counterparts in Transtasman Masters hockey series.
So it wasn't a surprise when a decent fuss was made of the New Zealand 50plus men's team which included Hawke's Bay centre half Malcolm Sutherland after they won gold at last week's Whangarei-hosted series. They were the only one of six Kiwi men's teams to win gold.
"It was pretty pleasing. We not only won our series, we won all three games and kept the Aussies scoreless in the process," Sutherland said.
"We won the first game 5-0 and we knew they would come back strong with the aim of forcing the decider. We won the second 1-0 and the third 2-0."
Sutherland, 52, said one of the keys to their success was the fact the bulk of the team, which was coached by North Habour's Allan Binks, played for "The Classics" team which finished second in the same age group at the World Masters Games in Auckland the previous week. They drew 3-all with another Kiwi team, One Up, but lost in a shootout.