U18 boys hockey team satisfied

The Wairarapa under-18 boys hockey side returned from the lower North Island tournament satisfied with their performance despite going down 2-1 to Manawatu in the final on the weekend.
Handed a tricky opening day schedule that required the side to play twice in the space of three hours, they turned on a dominant display to brush aside Wanganui 5-2 first up at 5pm on Saturday evening.
After a quick break the boys were back on the Levin turf to tackle a fresh Taranaki side and, despite being hampered by the short turnaround, managed to pull through with a 2-2 draw and seal top spot in their pool.
Unfortunately for the team, they were forced to check out from their motorcamp early the following morning and had to wait for more than five hours before taking the park for the final.
Coach Jesse Workman said the wait made preparation for the match a little tedious and likely caused the side's sluggish opening quarter.
"It wasn't ideal, having to sit around for five hours, and the boys were a bit slow off the mark but they started warming up as the game went on and played pretty well really," he said.
"Manawatu were by far better than Wanganui and Taranaki ? they're usually top four at the nationals ? so it was good to know we can keep up with them.
"We could've beaten them really, we had our chances."
Wairarapa conceded the first goal but a Ryan Poorling deflection from a planned penalty corner move ensured the scores were locked up 1-1 at halftime.
Manawatu, who previously dispatched Hawkes Bay and Wellington in pool play, scored again midway through the second stanza and held their lead through to the finish despite a final Wairarapa flurry that resulted in a penalty corner.
With only seconds on the clock the side attempted to repeat the move that saw Poorling score the equaliser but his diving deflection flew mere centimetres outside the post.
Workman, a former Wairarapa and New Zealand age-group representative who plays his hockey and studies in Palmerston North, said the tournament was a good hit-out for the young side.
"I've been introducing them to a few different systems that I've learnt through age-groups and in the national league and they adapted to them really well," he said.
"We're a really young side, we only have two seventh formers, and most of them wouldn't have played under those systems before so I was pretty happy with how they went."
Ryan Poorling in the forwards and Tobin Yeo in the midfield were probably the standouts, Workman said, though as a whole the team were pretty solid and no one really looked out of their depth.
Wairarapa now look forward to the under-18 national tournament to be held in Christchurch in July.