Black Sticks fall to Australia

Brooke Roberts of Blacksticks Women with Renee Taylor of Austalia in defence.
Photo: Photosport

The Black Sticks men and women were outplayed by Australia in the ANZAC Day double header in Christchurch.

Australia women came back from behind with two late goals to take a 2-1 victory in the first match in front of a sold out crowd.

It was a strong start for the Black Sticks women as they created a chance in the opening minute. It was a sign of things to come in the first quarter for the New Zealanders who dominated the ball, after soaking up a couple of minutes of Australian pressure.

First time captain Olivia Shannon opened up the scoring for New Zealand, deflecting in a penalty corner in the sixth minute. Australia managed a golden opportunity at the end of the first quarter only to be denied by an excellent Grace O’Hanlon save.

The Hockeyroos came out of the quarter break intent on drawing level. The Black Sticks defence held and from then most of the second period was a back and forth affair with both teams creating circle entries only to find themselves crowded by the defence.

New Zealand dominated the beginning of the third period but were stifled by some resilient defence which gave the Australians a good foundation from which to attack. They were duly rewarded early in the fourth quarter with Maddison Brooks scoring a long distance goal that keeper Brooke Roberts could do nothing about.

Both teams continued to press, hoping to avoid a penalty shootout, and it was Australia who managed to take the lead from a rather fortunate situation. Roberts saved a shot from Abigail Wilson who fell and managed to catch her stick on the rebounding ball to loop it into the back of the net.

New Zealand were markedly improved from their loss against Great Britain on Sunday and will be heartened by the increase in passing precision and goal scoring opportunities.

In the second match of the day the Kookaburras could hardly miss with their penalty corners in the first half.

Much like the Black Sticks women, the men found some improvement in open play from the weekend match against Great Britain.

Despite the score line they were more defensively sound and created some decent opportunities.

Australia opened the scoring early on when they won a penalty corner with Aussie wonderkid, Joel Rintala, scoring his first international goal with an absolute rocket into the back of the net.

The hosts held firm for the rest of the quarter, limiting Australian chances and creating counter-attacks of their own despite having a minority of possession.

The second quarter was all Australia who dominated territory and possession. They won a further two penalty corners, both converted by Rintala to give him a first half hat-trick.

The second half was a much tighter affair with New Zealand able to dictate the tempo a little more. The Black Sticks were defensively tighter, not conceding another penalty corner until late in the fourth when they were down two men due to yellow card infringements.

They also found more of a groove offensively with a number of circle entries, but were ultimately undone by some imprecise final passes.

Both Black Sticks teams will look to grab a win this weekend with the men taking on Great Britain on Friday, the women taking on Great Britain on Saturday, and both teams taking on Australia on Sunday.