New Zealand's Lucy Talbot challenges Carys Hopkins of Wales yesterday. Photo / Brett Phibbs
A slick second half, described by coach Mark Hager as a blueprint for the rest of the tournament, has carried New Zealand's Black Sticks women's hockey team to a comprehensive 5-1 win over minnows Wales yesterday at the Commonwealth Games.
New Zealand netted four second-half goals, the last two to
Northland's Anna Thorpe, in a dominant opener in their campaign for their first Commonwealth Games medal since 1998 in Kuala Lumpur.
New Zealand looked ordinary in the first half. They went ahead in the 18th minute to a goal from Katie Glynn, only to concede the advantage when Wales' Abigail Wellsford scored right on halftime, slipping the ball over the top of prone keeper Beth Jurgeleit in her 100th international.
Hager demanded, and got, a more cohesive effort in the second half. Ignoring the intense heat at the 16,000-seat Dyan Chand National Stadium, New Zealand launched a black blitz, with Gemma Flynn getting the go-ahead goal before two rebound efforts from Thorpe and a fifth from Clarissa Eshuis.
Hager said nerves and heat played a part in the Black Sticks' less-than-impressive first half.
"It was a smarter second half, helped when they got tired and a few more holes opened up for us, but we started to connect off the ball better and actually put away our chances."
Hager used six substitutions in the first 10 minutes to combat the mid-morning heat. It is a strategy he will employ for the entire 10 days.
"Rotating players every four or five minutes is going to be crucial, sometimes two or three subs at once, just to keep that high intensity. But our fitness levels were good, which is something we've worked hard on, and that second half is a bit of a blueprint for what's ahead.
"Opposition teams, particularly England, won't give us give us that much room, but we have the fitness levels and pace to move the ball.
"If we play individual hockey then any team here can beat us, but if our pace players like Gemma Flynn and Anita Punt fire then we can cause any opposition team havoc," said Hager.
