Hockey: Cap milestone at fingertips of Black Stick

Ryan Archibald. Photo / Getty Images

Former Black Sticks captain Ryan Archibald will join a select group of international hockey players when he plays England in New Zealand's last pool match at the Champions Trophy in Germany.

He will become the first New Zealander to play 250 internationals for his country in a glittering career. But for an unfortunate injury which robbed him of the chance to play at the 2004 Athens Olympics, he could have reached the mark much sooner.

An unassuming but highly talented midfielder who followed his father Jeff - a member of the gold medal-winning New Zealand team at the 1976 Montreal Olympics - into the sport, Archibald could go on to reach 300.

The win over the highly fancied Dutch in game 248 was a reason for Archibald to keep plying his trade both in his homeland and for his Dutch club HC Rotterdam.

"Sure, the win over the Dutch here rates right up there with the best," said Archibald from Monchengladbach this week. "It was good to get bragging rights over them, given the amount of time I spend there.

"It is a result I will remember for a long time. It probably equals the win we had over Germany in my first Azlan Shah tournament in Ipoh back in 1998."

Archibald made his debut against Malaysia in Whangarei in the same year. He played his 100th against Canada in Napier and his 200th against the United States in the 2008 Olympic qualifying tournament at North Harbour in which the Black Sticks went on to beat Argentina in the final to qualify for Beijing.

While he has hit the magical mark first, Archibald concedes his long-time team-mate and close friend Phil Burrows (who assumed the captaincy when Archibald relinquished the armband to concentrate on his own game) will probably become New Zealand's most capped.

Burrows was ahead of Archibald going into this year's World Cup in Germany but when Burrows was forced out of the tournament through injury (after the third game), Archibald went ahead.

"Phil is keen to keep going for as long as his body allows him," said Archibald. "While I am keen to go on to the London Olympics in 2012 - if we get there - my plan is to take a step back next year and spend more time working on my career outside hockey."

He will still be available to play but perhaps not as much as this year when he has had a World Cup, Champions Trophy and the still-to-come Commonwealth Games.

RYAN ARCHIBALD
* Date of birth: September 1, 1980
* Born: Auckland
* International debut: v Malaysia, Whangarei
* 100th cap: v Canada, Napier
* 200th cap: v United States, North Harbour
* 250th cap: v England, Monchengladbach