Hockey: Series victory brings delight for under-21s

By TERRY MADDAFORD

The New Zealand men's under-21 hockey team completed a series win, but not a whitewash, over Australia in capturing the Oceania title in Hobart.

The Kiwis followed their first-test romp with a spine-tingling 3-2 victory in Saturday's second test to clinch the series, but yesterday went down 1-2 after the hosts scored two second-half strokes, the second one right on full time.

"We are a bit disappointed we didn't complete the clean-sweep," New Zealand coach Craig Hobbs said.

"But that shouldn't take anything away from the series win.

"It has been a really worthwhile exercise and a steep learning curve against the world champions, who went through a recent European tour unbeaten."

New Zealand have won the Oceania berth at next October's world championships which will also be played in Hobart. They last played in the championships in 1985, finishing 12th.

In the second test, after their 6-1 win in Thursday's opener, New Zealand trailed 0-2 after 16 minutes, but fought back strongly with goals from Ryan Archibald and Lloyd Stephenson to go to the break at 2-2.

The impasse was broken in the last minute when Philip Burrows, who scored a first-test hat-trick, ran half the length of the field to score.

Yesterday, Hayden Shaw scored with a drag-flick from a penalty corner on halftime, but Australia hit back with two penalty strokes from captain Lachlan Vivian-Taylor.

Hobbs said: "We have taken plenty from the series and can now focus on the Junior World Cup. We now realise we can be competitive."

- NZPA