Australia claim first blood at Ford Trans-Tasman Trophy

Australias Kookaburras and Hockeyroos claimed wins over the Black Sticks Men and Women on the opening day of the Ford Trans-Tasman Trophy in Auckland.

With eight players on debut in David Brydon, Harry Miskimmin, Kim Kingstone, Sam Lane, Brad Read, Dominic Newman, Robert Creffier and Martin Atkinson, the Black Sticks Men made a superb start to their clash against the world number one Kookaburras.

The Kiwis opened the scoring in the 12th minute when striker Stephen Jenness went on a solo run in the circle and flicked the ball over the head of Tristan Clemons in goal.

Australia equalised through Aaron Kleinschmidt in the 18th minute before the Black Sticks struck back less than two minutes later with Kim Kingstone getting a nice sliding touch on a cross from fellow debutant Dominic Newman.

The Kookaburras drew level once more late in the third quarter when Trent Mitton made the most of a chance in front of goal and hit home.

Australia then snatched their first lead of the game 10 minutes from fulltime with Aran Zalewski smashing an open shot into the back of the goal before Jeremy Hayward added another soon after.

Head coach Colin Batch said despite the final score it was a solid opening hit-out.

"We had eight debutants so youre never sure whats going to happen with that but I thought they all handled themselves really well and we led for a long part of the game which is pleasing," he said.

"Australia had more possession than us no doubt about it, but we defended very well especially with our circle defence. It was an interesting game and Im happy with large parts of it but disappointed with the final result."

Earlier in the evening the Black Sticks Women suffered a heavy 6-0 defeat at the hands of the Hockeyroos who were clinical in the attacking half and dominated possession.

New Zealand struggled to build any momentum against the world number four ranked side, who were able to hold the ball and earn a glut of penalty corners.

Following an even first quarter the Hockeyroos opened the scoring in the 17th minute after a defensive error allowed them to create an overlap breakaway which was finished by Kalindi Commerford.

The floodgates open for Australia in the second half with Kathryn Slattery (33rd minute), Georgina Morgan (40th) and Georgia Nanscawen (44th) finding the back of the goal before Ashlea Fey and Slattery sealed the result in the final 10 minutes.

Felicity Reidy (Capital), Kim Tanner (Midlands) and Bridget Kiddle (Canterbury) all made their Black Sticks debut in the defeat.

Teams are back in action on Saturday with the Black Sticks Men against the Kookaburras at 6:30pm before the Black Sticks Women battle the Hockeyroos at 8:10pm. Both games will be broadcast live on SKY Sport 2.

The Ford Trans-Tasman Trophy is proudly supported by Ford, Polytan, Qantas, Educare, Trillian Trust and NZCT.

BLACK STICKS MEN 2: (Stephen Jenness, Kim Kingstone)

KOOKABURRAS 4: (Aaron Kleinschmidt, Trent Mitton, Aran Zalewski, Jeremy Hayward)

Halftime: Black Sticks 2-1

BLACK STICKS WOMEN 0

HOCKEYROOS 6: (Kathryn Slattery 2, Kalindi Commerford, Georgina Morgan, Georgia Nanscawen, Ashlea Fey)

Halftime: Hockeyroos 1-0





- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Hockey NZ