The Hawke's Bay contingent at the hockey World Cup in India, including now Auckland-based coach Greg Nicol (right).
The Hawke's Bay contingent at the hockey World Cup in India, including now Auckland-based coach Greg Nicol (right).
The New Zealand men’s hockey team, including three players from Hawke’s Bay, have taken a big lesson at the FIH World Cup in India after losing 4-0 to the highly-favoured 2018 runners-up, The Netherlands.
With two goals in the first quarter and one in the second, The Netherlands quickly stampedtheir authority on the match in Rourkela, Odisha.
Yet to concede a goal after two of their three games in Pool C , having also beaten Malaysia 4-0 in their tournament opener on Saturday, the Dutch are looking in ominous form.
The man of the match in the latest game was winning captain Thierry Brinkman, who scored goals in each of the first two quarters, with New Zealand goalkeeper and Hawke’s Bay player Dom Dixon having been substituted by an outfield player in a surprising early move, before brought back on in the second quarter.
New Zealand were much more composed in defence in the second half, making it a fairly even battle and first having the ball in the back of the goal in the final minute of the third quarter before being denied because of a foul in the build-up.
The Netherlands scored their final goal in the fourth quarter.
New Zealand opened their campaign with a 3-1 win over World Cup newcomers Chile.
The Black Sticks play Malaysia on Wednesday in a match expected to decide second place in the pool, but with pool winners going directly to the quarter-finals, second- and third place-getters play a pool crossover match to decide the other four qualifiers.
