Hockey: Daunting prospect for young side

SYDNEY - New Zealand men's hockey coach Kevin Towns hopes his side can recapture their early form from the recent test series with Malaysia when they take the step up against Australia in Melbourne tonight.

The first test between the transtasman rivals begins the three-match Manning Cup series, which continues on Saturday and Sunday.

Towns admitted that going from playing world No 11 Malaysia at home to facing the third-ranked Australians away would be a daunting task for his young side, who are 17th in the world.

"We've got three or four players who are pretty new to international hockey so I know how tough it will be," he said.

New Zealand last won the Manning Cup in 1967. They won the most recent match between the two teams, 18 months ago, but the Kookaburras had by then won the first two tests.

Towns was happy with how his team played in winning the first two tests against Malaysia last month. But they let the next two slip to share the honours.

"We started very well and the players were doing the things we had spoken about very well," he said.

"But we put ourselves under pressure when we fell away badly in the third test. It was difficult to come back in the fourth test but they did play a lot better.

"Inconsistent results will come with having new players but I hope in this series we can get back to what we were starting to achieve."

The New Zealand squad were boosted this week by the arrival of Towns' son Simon, the team captain, who will add experience to the midfield.

He missed the Malaysian series because of club commitments in England.

On Tuesday night, the New Zealanders drew 2-2 in a warm-up match against a Victorian state side boosted by some Australian players.

Towns described the match as a scrappy affair, not helped by his rotating players on and off at regular intervals.

The only injury problem is a groin strain to North Harbour forward David Kosoof, although he was expected to be available tonight.

Australia have not played since they won bronze at the Sydney Olympics. Their new coach, Australian Barry Dancer, had guided the Great Britain team for three years until the Games.

- NZPA