The Black Sticks Women's opening match against Japan resumed this evening, an hour after a water main burst near the entrance to the Unison Hockey Stadium in Hastings.
The hosts were trailing 1-0 when the game came to a flooding halt about 6.37pm at the Hastings City end of the international turf at the Hawke's Bay Regional Park.
Oblivious to the commotion, the players carried on with the game, until a Black Sticks player and Japanese counterpart chased a runway pass to the offending corner to realise the ball had rolled into ankle deep water encroaching the arena like a rising tide.
They turned around, looking perplexed, before the stadium announcer brought the flooding to the attention of the match officials on the park.
An army of stadium staff and volunteers waded through the water that had snaked its way to the rear entrance of the stadium, forming a murky moat.