Hockey: Scoreless draw stymies Black Sticks' hopes for Cup shortcut

New Zealand's hopes of qualifying for the women's World Cup by the short route came unstuck when Ireland held them to a scoreless draw in Rome last night.

Victory, in a match delayed by more than 14 hours because of rain, would have taken the Black Sticks to within a point of Korea and the United States.

Now they will need points when they play Korea tomorrow morning and two days later against Italy to get back on track.

Against Ireland with Emily Naylor at centre-half and captain Suzie Muirhead at inside left, New Zealand created early half chances but little more.

Ireland's Nikki Symmons had the best chances in the first 20 minutes but failed to convert.

Ireland forced their only penalty corner of the match after 21 minutes but their attempt was blocked.

The Black Sticks forced their only penalty corner of the half eight minutes from halftime but Irish goalkeeper Angela Platt kicked away Niniwa Roberts-Lang's shot.

The second half was dominated by New Zealand, who forced two penalty corners, but they could not turn a wealth of possession into a goal.

Earlier last night the game between the US and Italy, called off at 1-1 with less than 10 minutes to play on Saturday, was restarted.

The Americans won 2-1 to join Korea, who had earlier beaten Azerbaijan 4-0, at the top of the table with seven of a possible nine points.

New Zealand have four points, Italy and Ireland three.