Hockey: Warm-up matches sought

Hopes of a warm-up series for the Black Sticks men against Japan as the key preparation for their World Cup qualifiers in Invercargill in November have been dashed.

Coach Shane McLeod now has only a game against world No 24 Scotland confirmed in the lead-up to the November 7-15 tournament but Hockey NZ are searching for replacement opposition or at least other games against competing nations.

The draw has been kind to New Zealand.

They start their bid for a place in next year's World Cup in New Delhi from February 28-March 13 against Wales - the lowest-ranked team of the six at the tournament.

The next day, they play 24th-ranked Scotland. After the rest day, it becomes more difficult with games against Malaysia (16) and China (13).

McLeod welcomes the chance to see the Chinese play three times before what could prove the crucial clash of the round-robin.

"China is a team that is hard to get information on," said McLeod. "They are a bit of a closed shop and don't participate in many tournaments outside China."

In their final pool match, the Black Sticks meet Austria - a team seen as a dark horse given their skills at the indoor game and their recent win over Poland, who surprised many by winning a Champions Challenge tournament in Dublin a couple of months ago.

Only the winning team from the November 15 final progresses to the World Cup where they will be joined by the nine already-qualified countries and the winners of the other two qualifying tournaments to be played in Lille, France (October 31-November 8) and Quilmes, Argentina (November 14-22).

QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT
* November 7: NZ (ranked 8) v Wales (29)
* November 8: NZ v Scotland (24)
* November 10: NZ v Malaysia (16)
* November 12: NZ v China (13)
* November 14: NZ v Austria (20)
* November 15: Final