Hockey: Black Sticks men looking for Rio qualification

Men's Black Sticks coach Colin Batch. Photo / Getty

New Zealand's men set off today on their most important tournament since the London Olympics when the Oceania Cup starts in Stratford.

At stake is New Zealand's qualification for next year's Rio Olympics. In front of them are world No 1 Australia, who have already qualified and have never knowingly gone soft on their near-neighbours.

New Zealand, ranked seventh, start the cup against Samoa tomorrow, face the Aussies in the round robin game on Thursday, play Fiji on Saturday before, barring a monumental upset, meet the Australians a second time for the cup title.

The women's Black Sticks, who have already qualified for Rio, meet Samoa tomorrow and Australia in back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday, when the cup will be contested.

Catch the Black Sticks in action at the Oceania Cup

New Zealand should have locked in their place at Rio months ago. They blew games against lower-ranked Canada - losing a marathon shootout - and then Spain in the world league semifinals in Buenos Aires in June, which put them on a precipice.

They have beaten Australia this year, in Malaysia in April, and coach Colin Batch insists his team aren't daunted the challenge, or the ramifications of losing to the Australians, this week.

"We've discussed it as a group. If we prepare and play as well as we can that's all we can take care of, and hopefully we get the reward from that," Batch said last night.

"We've done a lot of planning and talking and it's about executing out on the ground."
Batch conceded the first game against Australia might involving boxing clever, not revealing a full hand. Equally he sees it as a chance to play high calibre hockey to assess how his team measure up for the final.

"Maybe we don't show everything but we certainly want to compete well to see how we stack up against Australia."

There are a few of the Australian players he doesn't know much about, but he believes they have included some with an eye on the future, alongside a hard core of experienced performers.

"No matter who they pick, they will be a strong team and well prepared," he said of Australia.

Should New Zealand miss out on Rio, there will be a significant cut in funding from High Performance Sport, which has put $2.55 million into the men's game since 2013.

Failure to make Rio will mean the first time the men's Black Sticks have missed an Olympics since 2000 in Sydney. They are without the unavailable Andy Hayward, Shea McAleese and Phil Burrows, which is a hefty chunk of talent and experience.