The Junior Black Sticks, containing three Wairarapa players, came fifth at the Sultan Johor Cup hockey tournament, which finished in Malaysia last week.
Nicholas Finlayson, Trent Lett and Benedict van Woerkom were prominent members of a side which drew 3-3 with Pakistan, beat Malaysia 5-2, lost to Germany 5-1,lost to Australia 5-1 and then beat Malaysia in the play-off for fifth and sixth 2-1.
The draw with Pakistan came through a last-minute goal by Kane Russell after Pakistan led 3-0 after 30 minutes of play. The Kiwis opened their account in the 50th minute through a deflection by Jared Panchia and van Woerkom scored the second goal with what was labelled a "cracking reverse stick hit".
The 5-2 win over Malaysia also saw the Junior Black Sticks come from behind, Malaysia leading 2-1 midway through the first half. Lett was signalled out in after-match comments for his outstanding work on defence.
Germany was simply too strong for the New Zealanders in game three, controlling the game for long periods and scoring five goals in the process, four of them in the first half.
Against Australia, the Junior Black Sticks trailed by just 1-0 at halftime and, although the latter equalised 1-1 shortly into the second half, the Aussies were dominant in the last 20 minutes.
The play-off match with Malaysia was even stevens at 0-0 at the interval and it was the home nation who took a 1-0 lead before first Panchia and then Russell scored for the Junior Black Sticks.
Germany were lying at the bottom of the points table after the first two rounds but eventually claimed the major spoils from India, Australia, Pakistan, NZ and Malaysia, respectively.
With 14 players new to the team, the Malaysian tourney provided the Junior Black Sticks selectors the chance to blood players internationally before the Junior World Cup qualifier, the Oceania Junior Nations Cup, to be held on the Gold Coast in February 2013, where the Kiwis will meet Australia, Papua New Guinea and Samoa.
The Junior World Cup is to be played in India in December 2013 although exact dates and venues are still to be confirmed.
