Hockey: Stakes high as Oceania Cup begins

Simon Child of the Black Sticks. Photo / Greg Bowker

The New Zealand men's hockey side set off today on the most important tournament since the London Olympics as the Oceania Cup starts in Stratford, Taranaki.

At stake is the small matter of New Zealand's qualification for next year's Rio Olympics. In front of them are world No1 Australia, who have already qualified and not likely to go soft on their neighbours.

New Zealand, ranked seventh, start against Samoa today, face the Aussies in the round robin game tomorrow, play Fiji on Saturday before, barring a monumental upset, meeting the Australians a second time for the title.

The women's Black Sticks, who have already qualified for Rio, meet Samoa today and Australia in back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday, when the Cup will be contested.

New Zealand should have locked in their place at Rio months ago. They blew games against lower-ranked Canada - losing a marathon shootout - and then Spain in the world league semifinals in Buenos Aires in June, which put them on the precipice.

They have beaten Australia this year, in Malaysia in April, and coach Colin Batch insists his side aren't daunted by the challenge or ramifications of losing to Australia this week. "We've discussed it as a group. If we prepare and play as well as we can, that's all we can take care of, and hopefully we get the reward from that," Batch said last night.

Batch conceded the first game against Australia might involve boxing clever, not revealing a full hand. There are some Australian players he doesn't know much about, and believes they have included some players with an eye on the future, alongside a hard core of experienced performers.

Should New Zealand miss Rio, there will be a significant cut in funding from High Performance Sport, which has put $2.55 million into the men's game since 2013.

If they lose to Australia, it will be the first time the men's Black Sticks have missed an Olympics since 2000 in Sydney.

They are without Andy Hayward, Shea McAleese and Phil Burrows, which is a hefty chunk of talent and experience. David Leggat