Hawke’s Bay Black Sticks goal-up in Nations Cup defence

Celebration time, with Hawke’s Bay player Sean Findlay (No 24) and Hayden Phillips in the 2-1 win over Japan in the New Zealand Black Sticks’ opening game at the men’s Nations Cup hockey tournament in Kuala Lumpur. Photo / Supplied

Hawke’s Bay players have scored four of the men’s New Zealand Black Sticks’ six goals in an unbeaten start to a defence of hockey’s FIH men’s Nations Cup in Kuala Lumpur.

Both games were come-from-behind successes, with recalled players Sam Hiha and Dylan Thomas – called in from the travelling reserves to replace injured captain Sam Lane - starring in the opening game against Japan, each scoring a goal in the second half after it was 1-0 to Japan at halftime.

It looked even more precarious 24 hours later when the Black Sticks were down 3-0 at halftime to home side Malaysia, but they came back to win 4-3, with Sean Findlay and Hiha each scoring during a flurry of four goals in eight minutes, one in the third quarter and three in the final quarter.

Other Hawke’s Bay players in the squad are Jonty Elmes and goalkeeper Dominic Dixon, with New Zealand playing Pakistan tomorrow in the last of three pool matches before heading into the playoff stages with hopes of retaining the trophy they won in Poland last year.

The Nations Cup is for teams globally ranked 9-16.

The Black Sticks women, also with several Hawke’s Bay players, won the women’s FIH Nations Cup 2 tournament in Poland earlier this year, bouncing back from a failure to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games. Four are in a team to play in the US next month.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.