Vantage Black Sticks finish second at Oceania Cup

The Vantage Black Sticks Men and Women have both finished second at the Oceania Cup in Sydney after going down to hosts Australia on finals day.

The Women were forced to settle for runners up after the Hockeyroos powered home for a 2-0 win in the gold medal match.

New Zealand had more circle entries and shots goal but werent able to capitalise on their chances while Australia knocked in two first half goals through Jane Claxton and Kristina Bates.

Vantage Black Sticks goalkeeper Sally Rutherford brought up her 150th test cap during the match.

Assistant coach Sean Dancer said it was a frustrating end to the tournament, knowing they could have done better.

"We started well and had some really good chances, unfortunately our defence made a few errors and Australia made the most of those," he said.

"The trans-Tasman battle is something we always pride ourselves on so we know we need to be better heading into our biggest challenge of the year, the Sentinel Homes Hockey World League Final on our home turf next month."

In the Mens gold medal game, the Kookaburras outplayed the Vantage Black Sticks in a 6-0 victory to take the Oceania title.

Australia controlled the first half and were up by two goals inside the opening five minutes after strikes from Tom Wickham and Dylan Wotherspoon.

The world number two ranked hosts added two more in the second quarter to take a commanding 4-0 buffer into the halftime break.

The Kiwis fought hard in the second half but were unable to slow the charging Kookaburras, who chalked up another two goals to take the spoils.

Both Vantage Black Sticks team now head home with the Men next competing at the International Festival of Hockey in Melbourne, while the Women prepare for the Sentinel Homes Hockey World League Final at Harbour Hockey Stadium from 17-26 November.

CLICK HERE for more on the 2017 Oceania Cup

VANTAGE BLACK STICKS WOMEN: 0

HOCKEYROOS: 2 (Jane Claxton, Kristina Bates)

Halftime: Australia 2-0

VANTAGE BLACK STICKS MEN: 0

KOOKABURRAS: 6 (Aran Zalewski 2, Tom Wickham 2, Dylan Wotherspoon, Jake Whetton)

Halftime: Australia 4-0



- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Hockey NZ