Hockey: Women bounce back to thrash England

New Zealand produced a storming performance to overwhelm England 5-0 in the second round of the Champions Trophy women's tournament in Macau last night.

The New Zealanders were beaten 1-0 by defending champions and world No 1 Argentina in Saturday's opening match, but made the most of their opportunities last night.

England had a steady stream of penalty corners, with nine in the first half, but were unable to convert any.

New Zealand had 10 for the match and scored from five.

They led 2-0 at halftime with goals from Suzie Pearce and Jamie Provan.

Provan added another seven minutes after the resumption, Michelle Turner chipped in six minutes later and Piki Hamahona completed the rout seven minutes from fulltime.

New Zealand played the more attacking hockey and their defence held firm.

England struggled to find any midfield dominance in a match they would rather forget.

The last time the teams met was in the opening match of the Commonwealth Games last month, which resulted in a 2-2 draw.

Earlier yesterday, Argentina drew with No 2 seeds the Netherlands 1-1 in an exciting clash.

On Saturday, New Zealand nearly did enough to hold out Argentina in stifling conditions.

Argentina deserved their win after dominating much of the match, making nine shots to one in general play and winning six penalty corners to two.

Oliva Mariana Gonzalez converted one of the corners 16 minutes into the second half with a fine reverse stick shot, forcing the New Zealanders to adopt a more attacking style.

They came close to equalising when a fine run from Provan nearly resulted in a goal two minutes from the end.

New Zealand coach Jan Borren admitted his team went out to play a defensive style under the scorching sun, with temperatures hovering in the high 30 degrees.

- NZPA