Wairarapa roll into knock outs

Wairarapa brought the morning's play to life in the Hatch Cup national under-13 boys hockey tournament at Clareville yesterday when they hammered defending champions South Canterbury 8-0 in the first of their pool matches.

Needing to place in the top two of their pool to qualify for the quarter-finals starting on Thursday, Wairarapa were looking for a strong start against a South Canterbury team minus most of their 2010 combination and they got what they wanted.

Dominating possession from the word go, Wairarapa raced out to a 3-0 advantage before South Canterbury had the chance to draw breath, and from that point on there was only one team in it.

By halftime Wairarapa had built their lead to 4-0 and they continued to call the tune in the second spell, scoring another four goals there without reply.

Coaches Grant Brewster and Kerry Hare had impressed upon the Wairarapa squad the need to rely on teamwork and the team responded brilliantly, often making huge advances through a mix of slick, accurate passing and committed support play.

And when South Canterbury launched dangerous attacks, there was a pleasing tenacity about Wairarapa's defensive effort.

Captain Gus Wakeling led by example, not only by scoring three of the Wairarapa goals but by the constant threat he posed to South Canterbury with his speed and clever stick-work.

Morgan Taylor was always aggressive in intent and quick to make the most of any attacking opportunity while Henry Phelps and Will McMaster both showed excellent distribution skills.

Wakeling (3), Morgan Taylor, Guy Percy, Matthew Furkert, Nathan Whiteman and Henry Phelps were the goal scorers.

Four of the six matches played yesterday morning produced decisive winning margins, the biggest of them coming when Northland beat Mid Canterbury 17-0. Seven of the Northland goals came in the first five minutes.

Auckland outclassed Thames Valley 11-0 with Rowan Daya scoring five of their goals and Horowhenua had a commanding 8-0 victory over Marlborough.

The other two matches were closer affairs, Tauranga beating Buller 3-1 and Bay of Plenty and Counties-Manukau drawing 2-2.