Hockey: Black Sticks crash out of cup contention

New Zealand won't attend a women's hockey World Cup for the first time in 12 years after their qualifying hopes were shattered by a 0-1 loss to France in Rome this morning (NZ time).

The Black Sticks, ranked sixth in the world, will be missing from the 12-team World Cup tournament in Spain this September after a poor performance today that saw them fail to take a host of chances.

France, who are ranked 21st, took the lead in the first minute of the second half through a diving goal to captain Muriel Lazennec. A ball struck into the circle found its way through a clutch of Black Sticks defenders, allowing an opportunistic Lazennec to capitalise on the far post.

There were no such defensive mistakes from the French, who held out all New Zealand could muster for the remainder of the half, including two desperate penalty corners in the final eight minutes.

New Zealand have attended every World Cup since 1994 and would have expected to qualify in Rome, having entered the tournament as second seeds.

They were rocked by injuries early in the tournament to key attackers Honor Dillon and Kayla Sharland and lacked a sharp edge for the remainder.

The Black Sticks could only manage third in their six-team pool, winning two of their five games but losing to Korea and the United States.

It left them needing to beat France today and win another playoff match on Sunday.

Instead they will face Ireland in a meaningless match for seventh place tomorrow while France and China play off for the final World Cup berth.

Disappointed New Zealand coach Ian Rutledge struggled to comprehend his side's effort.

"It's a real embarrassment, we should never have lost to a team like France," Rutledge told Radio Live.

"France were pretty ordinary opposition. Unfortunately we were just very very flat. I don't think I've seen our team play as badly as they played today.

"We were very poor across the pitch."

Rutledge said while excuses could be used to explain their poor return from the tournament, he couldn't hide his feelings on today's performance.

"In the washup, we can look back on it and realise that we didn't put our strongest team together," he said.

"We were impacted by a number of injuries and retirements and unavailabilities.

"But put all that to one side, we should have beaten France today."

Rutledge hoped his side could restore some pride against Ireland tomorrow and then set their sights on the Champions Trophy tournament in the Netherlands in July.

His contract comes up for renewal later this year and Rutledge accepted there would be pressure on his position but he wanted to stay on.

- NZPA