Hockey: Maori women side set to play Indians

New Zealand Indians midfielder Aleesha Nana, left, and New Zealand Maori midfielder Tamara Dudley eyeball one another in the buildup to their match at Park Island this morning. Photo/Warren Bukland

The memories flooded back for Caryn Paewai when the New Zealand Maori women's hockey team assembled in Napier this week.

"I remember playing in the first Maori tournament here in 1992 and last playing for the New Zealand Maori side in 1999," Paewai recalled as she joined representatives from other teams involved with the Affiliates Tournament which will be played in conjunction with the Six Nations tournament as part of the Hawke's Bay Festival of Hockey.

A Hawke's Bay Sports Hall of Famer, Paewai, retired from international duty in November 2008 after 148 tests for the Black Sticks. Paewai, 39, admitted to "knowing nothing" about the New Zealand Indian Women's team her Maori side will face today from 9.30am at Park Island.

But she knows plenty about the Tracy Edmonds-coached New Zealand Maori side's other opponents.

"I was going to be coaching the New Zealand Senior Women's team until I heard the Maori side was playing. There are a lot of former Black Sticks players in the New Zealand Masters 35-plus team, obviously I know the Hawke's Bay women's team and I know exactly how the Australian Country side will play ... they will probably be the favourites so we're in for a tough few days," Paewai said.

"We've heard the Marg Hiha Trophy will be up for grabs so we're pretty keen to win it because of who it's named after," she said.

Fellow Hawke's Bay Sports Hall of Famer, matriach of Hawke's Bay hockey and former New Zealand player and coach Hiha introduced the national Maori tournament to the country's hockey calendar.

"Our team is a good mixture of older players like Parekura Rangitauira of Waiariki and myself and exciting young players like Kayla Wilson of Waikato-Maniapoto," Paewai said.

A Woodford House sports co-ordinator, Paewai will have a striker's role for the Maori side. In addition to assisting with the coaching of the Woodford House team in the Furnware Schools Invitations tournament, which is also part of the festival, Paewai said she has enjoyed watching "the Black Sticks play in our backyard".

She was looking forward to watching her "other favourite team" the world's second ranked-team Argentina play the Black Sticks last night.

"While it must have been gutting for the Black Sticks to lose 2-1 to China on Sunday they were still competitive. Mark [Hager, the Black Sticks coach] has got players coming back from injury and this tournament is an opportunity for them to find their feet at international level again in the buildup to the World Cup which starts next month," Paewai said.

"I can't wait to see how New Zealand plays against Argentina. The Argentinians normally play an exciting zonal defence which we do well against because there is more space whereas the Asians play more man to man."

Manager of the New Zealand Indian Women's team, Roshni Keshaw, said her team will be playing their first match since 1998 when they played the Maori team.

"It's great for our women to be invited to this tournament, a first for us. While our men get regular games we don't get many.

"We have a national tournament every Queen's Birthday Weekend like the national Maori tournament and New Zealand Indian men's and women's teams are selected after each tournament. This team we have in Napier has some really young players and a couple of mature ones," Keshaw explained.

All of the team have been born and bred in New Zealand. No Hawke's Bay-based players were selected for the side, which contains players from Wellington, Palmerston North, Rotorua and Auckland.

An indication of how serious the Indians are about the tournament is the fact they have been Napier-based since Sunday. It's easy to see why Paewai is predicting a tough week for her team.

The New Zealand Maori women will also play the New Zealand Masters 35-plus side tomorrow and on Friday the New Zealand Senior Women and Hawke's Bay Women.

All of the Affiliates Tournament games will be played at Park Island, but both the men's and women's finals will be played at the Unison Stadium in Hastings on Saturday.