Wairarapa's Shane Hodgkiss scored a goal for the New Zealand under-16 boys hockey side in the 4-2 win which secured overall victory for them in their three-test series against a Queensland open secondary schoolboys team at Kings College in Auckland last week.
New Zealand had earlier won the first test 2-1
before losing the second by the same scoreline.
Hodgkiss was part of the New Zealand forward line in all three games and in typically modest fashion he was "pretty happy" with the way things went for him.
"The pace of the games was a bit quicker than I was used to but it wasn't too bad," he said. "They (Queensland) relied a lot on their speed, that was definitely their main strength."
Hodgkiss said the combinations within the New Zealand squad improved as the series went on , hardly surprising considering they had only limited knowledge of each other's abilities before it started.
"We were really moving the ball around well by the third game, it was good teamwork that got us the win there," he said.
As to his own goal Hodgkiss said it was simply a case of a cross coming in from the flanks and him being johnny-on-the spot to place the ball in the back of the Queensland net.
"It was great to get a goal but I suppose I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time," he said.
