Hockey: Rocky World Cup start for New Zealand

New Zealand's World Cup campaign got off to a rough start when they were trounced 4-0 by the defending champions the Netherlands in Kuala Lumpur.

New Zealand manager Arvind Jasmat said New Zealand held their own in the midfield, but failed to finish off scoring opportunities.

"The score probably indicates that we let ourselves down, but in fact we played very well and we definitely improved on the hockey that we played three or four weeks ago when we met the Dutch in the third and fourth playoff at the Six Nations," he said.

In a World Cup warm-up tournament in Malaysia last month, New Zealand beat the Dutch 3-1 in the preliminary round and then lost 10-2 in the play-off for third place.

Jasmat said the game was played in 38deg heat. The Dutch scored through Marten Eikelbom in the sixth minute from a free hit outside the circle. A well-executed penalty corner from Bram Lomas in the 11th minute gave them a 2-0 halftime advantage.

In the second half, New Zealand had as much of the play as Holland but could not convert any of their three penalty corners.

The other Dutch goals came from Piet Hein Geeris, in the 56th minute, from a move down the left, and Teun de Nooijer, off a rebound from a penalty corner.

New Zealand were playing Spain late last night in their second game.

- NZPA