Hockey: Black Sticks hiding a trick or two

New Zealand men's coach Kevin Towns is expecting some cat-and-mouse tactics from Australia when the sides battle for a place in next year's World Cup, but says the Black Sticks will keep some aces up their sleeves.

The Black Sticks left for Fiji yesterday but before setting their sights on the Cup, to be held in Germany in September, they have to find a way through the defences of Australia's reigning Olympic champions, then not fall prey to host nation Fiji.

The Black Sticks play Australia on Tuesday and Fiji on Wednesday in a round-robin competition at the Oceania qualifying tournament.

All going well, the New Zealanders will face Australia again in the final on Saturday, November 19, with the winner taking the Cup qualification.

The loser faces the much tougher prospect of qualifying through a tournament in China, starting just days after the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March.

Towns said his team were in no doubt about the difficulty of beating Australia - they haven't managed it in 14 matches played since 1999.

Having to play Australia twice in Fiji meant the New Zealanders would have to keep something in reserve, he said.

"We'll be maybe a little bit cagey and so will they in that first game.

"I believe they will certainly go out to put us under a great deal of pressure and try and score some individual points on our players, and we'll do the same, but the actual scoreline won't be the issue."

Although the big matches of the Oceania tournament promise to be against Australia, the Black Sticks would not take hosts Fiji lightly.

"We're very conscious that while we're talking about the final, there's work to be done and we've had a little bit of spying on the Fijians when they went to Brisbane.

"We have to be on our game and we have to dish them out what I would call a hiding at international level."

Towns said his key players promised to be striker Phil Burrows, midfielder Ryan Archibald, goalkeepers Paul Woolford and Kyle Pontifex, and defender Hayden Shaw.

The return of drag-flick specialist Shaw after playing first-class cricket for Canterbury was a significant boost, meaning opposition defenders would have to back off rather than risk conceding a penalty.

"When you have a striker of Hayden's capability, those sorts of infringements don't occur as frequently. Therefore your strikers get a little bit more space."

The squad had no major injury concerns and Towns expected everyone to be available for the first match.

On the negative side of the ledger, they have lost Dion Gosling to retirement and Wayne McIndoe, who is unavailable.

- NZPA