Hockey: Australia take stock after cup bronze

Emily Smith (left) and Jodie Kenny at Unison Hockey Stadium in Hastings. Photo / Paul Taylor

They didn't achieve their goal but the Hockeyroos have left the Hawke's Bay Cup tourney satisfied with making some adjustments on the road to the Rio Olympics.

The Adam Commens-coached Australians settled for third place after beating China 3-1 in the third-fourth playoffs in Hastings yesterday.

The Aussies, having lost to the Black Sticks, were too classy for China, who had lost 1-0 to Japan, in the semifinals on Saturday.

The world No 3 took two minutes to get on the scoresheet through Grace Stewart before Georgina Morgan extended the lead from a well-worked penalty corner in the 33rd minute.

It was 3-0 in the 38th minute when Jodi Kenny made good from a penalty corner.

On the tick of three-quarter time, Xiayun Xi worked the ball into the circle to pull one back, 3-1.

Veteran defender Kenny was satisfied with third place but revealed the goal was to make the final.

"The tournament has definitely had some ups and downs for us but I feel that our standard of play has improved as we played more matches. Our penalty corners worked well today but there was definitely an element of not giving away too much with the Rio Olympics looming," she said.

Crowd pleasers Ireland, a non-Olympic side beat India in a shootout following 1-1 fulltime result in the 5th-6th playoff, after serving a similar dose to the South Korea in Saturday's 5th/8th playoff match.

Ireland coach Graham Shaw said: ""We came here to make the semis but once we lost the quarter to Australia we refocused and fifth place became the target. We achieved that so I am delighted."

The Koreans turned the tables on Canada with a 3-1 result yesterday in the playoff for 7th and 8th after losing their opener, 2-1, to the newcomers.

Canada coach Ian Rutledge said the tourney had benefited his stable.

They had faced teams they often didn't, identified work-on areas and had made incremental gains in how they play, he said.