Hockey: NZ still eye playoff for bronze

Ian Rutledge has never been one to accept defeat easily, but the Black Sticks hockey coach is also a realist.

For that reason he was not unduly perturbed after his NZ womens side suffered a 0-4 loss to The Netherlands at the Champions Trophy tournament today.

The world No 1 Dutch exhibited their slickness before an appreciative, 8000-strong home crowd in Amsterdam to maintain an unbeaten record and stay atop the standings on seven points after three matches.

The young and inexperienced New Zealand side, who have yet to score a goal after three games, are sixth and last on one point, with matches to come against Germany on Friday (NZ time) and China the following day.

Rutledge has not given up hope of his team qualifying among the top four but he knows those two matches are now must-win affairs while the New Zealanders will also need other results to go in their favour also.

New Zealand held their own for periods today but could not deny the Dutch in the end, two goals in the closing two minutes inflating the scoreline.

Sylvia Karres, Vera Vorstenbosch, Maartje Paumen and Eefke Mulder each scored for the two-time defending champions, who have seven points after three games.

New Zealand began the Champions Trophy with a 0-3 loss to Argentina before earning a highly creditable 0-0 draw with Australia.

Rutledge considered the Dutch and Argentina to be " head and shoulders, from an ability point of view, above the rest of the teams".

"You have to have a team who have been together a long time to be able to compete with them."

The young New Zealand team, ranked No 6, were always going to have their work cut out today, and so it proved.

But Rutledge was content with the effort put in.

"I was happy with our girls. You have to play against the best to benchmark your own performance.

"The experience will be invaluable for our players, most of whom had not played Holland before.

"Hopefully this will provide the stimulus to increase the growth of our individuals."

Rutledge was impressed in patches with what his players managed to do against a class team boasting deep experience and considerable talent.

"I felt we did well to quieten them in the second half. We were a little nervous in the first half and a little tentative.

"In the second half our girls weathered the storm and defended very well. We actually had a stranglehold on the game for a while when we got some good solid possession ourselves when we managed to push forward ourselves."

Despite their last placing, the Black Sticks have not given up hope of making the top four, something no New Zealand women's team have previously attained in this competition.

"We've played the best three defensive teams in the world so far so the draw never did us any favours," Rutledge said.

"On rankings it gets a little easier from here on in and we have a quiet confidence we can do quite well against Germany and China.

"It looks as if the best we can finish is to reach the playoff for third and fourth.

"The team set themselves the goal of playing off for the bronze medal when we headed into this tournament ... you never know."

- NZPA