Hockey: Black Sticks back in elite company

Black Sticks coach Mark Hager. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The New Zealand women's hockey team ended a four-year exile from the elite Champions Trophy when they beat South Africa 2-1 in the final of the qualifier at Cape Town this morning (NZT).

Two first half goals by Anita Punt and Clarissa Eshuis were enough to hold off a second half fightback by South Africa for whom Kate Woods scored in the 64th minute.

The Champions Challenge victory means the Black Sticks have diaried a packed international programme for 2010 - the Champions Trophy in Nottingham in July, the World Cup in Argentina the following month and the Commonwealth Games in India in October.

Having also beaten world No 5 Australia to retain the Oceania Cup in August and book their place in the World Cup, the Black Sticks have gone a long way towards erasing a forgettable 2008 in which they finished 12th and last at the Beijing Olympics.

But coach Mark Hager said from Cape Town the tournament wins were just little steps towards the ultimate goal of achieving a top six world ranking and staying there.

"We have a long way to go. We made small steps this year and been fortunate to win the Oceania and now the Champions Challenge," said Hager who earlier this year succeeded Olympics coach Kevin Towns.

"We are under no illusions that we still have a long way to go to compete with the top six.

"It's a real learning curve for us with this group.

"So as long as we learn from the experiences, it will stand us in good stead.

"We need to be a top six team and still have to achieve that goal.

"Hopefully, we can do that next year and give us a little more belief that we can really compete with the top countries in the world."

New Zealand started the tournament ranked 11th in the world but will be moving inside the top 10 when the next International Hockey Federation rankings list is issued.

At the last Champions Challenge in Azerbaijan in 2007, the Black Sticks finished fifth of six teams with two wins and four losses.

" The win was a pleasing result because it was the first tournament with this group and we were unsure how we would compete, how we would play against different opposition every day, whether we could get up for different games," Towns said.

Consistency was a key to making and staying in the top six of the world and that was something to aim for.

There was a lot of hard work to get through before that could happen.

" If anything, we lacked consistency over the whole tournament, but you know, we probably played better when it counted," Hager said.

Striker Gemma Flynn was voted player of the tournament by the coaches but Hager also praised the young side, average age 23, that he has assembled.

"I think I am fortunate to have come in at the right time.

"We have got very young players who like to play attacking hockey, and that's what we trying to promote with this group."

- NZPA