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Thoughts on recent rumours with the National Hockey League odd weekend game originally scheduled twice for free-to-air on 9Go but now not going ahead in Australia

by Sports Benches

Thought we were all existed to see a bit of Ice Hockey with the National Hockey League for free-to-air also lately when 9Go planned to schedule at least one weekend game to start off Saturday this month that was supposed to be the Detroit Red Wings v Toronto’s Maple Leaf (home team) before they decided to push one back a week later than planned. 

But over the last day or two, they’ve now decided not to put the game on ahead of tomorrow which would be the 11am AEDT one between Pittsburgh Penguins v Columbus Blue Jackets (home team).

Yeah, it’s a shame this won’t be happening unfortunately when NHL came over to Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne last year to play some exhibition matches there with 9Go previously being their free-to-air broadcaster alongside ESPN. It could’ve been a great time to have another odd NHL game on 9Go during the middle of the day that would have great significance for our NHL fans considering Nine has a great relationship with ESPN Australia with Basketball and US Sports like the weekly WNBL basketball game during Sundays on 9Go as well most other games via 9Now. But at the end of the day though, it would be great if Nine did actually say about this via press release and promoting it before putting this on air rather than someone putting this out of nowhere & then nothing happens.

I know our NHL interest isn’t on the same level as the NFL that 7mate airs every Monday morning during the season including Playoffs and Super Bowl while SBS no longer airs NBA games for like two years now. Again, just didn’t know where that rumour came from as if Nine can be so serious about airing ice hockey again, then perhaps do it during the Stanley Cup Finals or when they come back down under next time.

It’s just a suggestion and then we maybe talking about this after all.

For now, there’s always Foxtel, Kayo Sports and NHL.tv if you do really want to watch the Pens v Columbus game tomorrow morning. Meanwhile on Nine, there’s always the Billie Jean Cup Tennis this Sunday on 9Gem at 8pm involving Australia, as well as a bit of boxing on Wednesday night at 10pm thanks to their own paid streaming partner at Stan, who will be covering the full program.

And yes, we wish we could also watch a bit of Spring Tour rugby (not all games though since most of them are held during the very early morning/overnight) also on free-to-air like it was in the past when there was no live Super Rugby at the time. 

It was great to see the Wallabies win over England last weekend at Twickenham including Joseph Suaalii’s outstanding debut straight out out of the Sydney Roosters in the NRL & Nine has been covering league for such a long time. 

With the possibility of a Rugby Australia launching third-tier comp involving four existing Australian Super Rugby teams – in the same way we currently see with our U16 and U19 Super Rugby teams – that would begin sometime next year, I do hope Nine can consider putting at least one Spring Tour match to round off the Wallabies calendar year on free-to-air. 

Ideally, I’d like to see the 6am AEDT final tour game on a Sunday morning against whichever European team live on 9Gem.

They’re they’re doing this right now with UEFA soccer when it comes to all three club competition Grand Finals plus selected Super W & Club Rugby games (mainly late season + Finals) throughout the year as well.

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2024 Hockey One: A fiery Saturday afternoon with Tassie Tigers’ winning comeback in the Men’s & Zoe Newman solid behind goal via penalties in the women’s game for NSW Pride

by Sports Benches

It’s been a really fiery & hotly competitive afternoon of Hockey One at the Tasmanian Hockey Centre in Hobart with back-to-back opening round Saturday matches involving the Men’s and Women’s Tassie Tigers and NSW Pride. We’ll start with the men’s 3pm game and NSW were off to a fantastic start where they scored two first half goals (one off each quarter), although Tassie got one back before both teams gone into half-time with a one-goal difference (1-2).

Now both sides may have went scoreless in the 3rd but the match isn’t over just yet and at the end of the day, the script was flipped at the hands of Tassie courtesy of Jack Welch who scored a stunning 4th quarter hat-trick goal to seal his Tassie side the opening round victory by 4-3. A lot can change when one hour is not a long time to break things down with commiserations to NSW where they fired off well as said – despite some early ill-discipline; But they just couldn’t either safeguard the game or stop Welch in their tracks.

Then we move straight into the 2nd match of the afternoon involving the respective women’s teams and this time, it went down the wire via penalty shootouts once again with the opening match already been decided in that sort of fashion last night – and it turns out the Hockey Club Melbourne did win that game over the host team Adelaide Fire at MATE Stadium 3-1 when they both drew 1-1 all in normal time. Don’t forget the Melbourne team also won the opening men’s game also last night thanks to a great start with Kaide Leigh scoring the double to put the match into bed while Craig Marais helped them extend their winning, even though the Fire’s late comeback from behind unfortunately fell so short by a single goal (4-3).

Back to this match now and the first half saw NSW Pride scored three goals (only in the 2nd quarter) but Tassie also scored three goals of their own as well (only in the 3rd quarter) where both teams couldn’t find a way to settle the score when a hour is already up and both teams have one last chance to redeem themselves in penalties as it’s either win or lose for the Tigers and Pride.

Both teams got away with the penalty score sheets well while they both had issues with Tassie struggling to beat the keeper (Zoe Newman) & Mariah Williams unlucky not to wrap up her strike within the eight second rule for NSW. Fortunately for NSW, they didn’t have any other issues executing through the net with goalkeeper Newman being the hero there who stayed strong to deny Tassie another few shots behind the net – which was enough to secure the close win by 3-2 for NSW Pride.

Gotta say both teams put in such a brilliant fight as this is what Hockey One is all about across the men’s and women’s matches this afternoon with one match left tomorrow afternoon to finish off the round & six more weeks after this including the Finals weekend (also in Hobart) – it’s the Canberra Chill v Perth Thundersticks at the National Hockey Centre in Canberra.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: Yibbi Jansen’s late penalty corner strike saves the day for the women’s Dutch team via penalty shootouts over China to complete the double triumph alongside the men’s at Paris 2024

by Sports Benches

Looks like the Netherlands have flipped the script that late off the back of China’s early 1-0 lead for the most part, even via penalties to successfully defend their Olympics Field Hockey crown from Tokyo 2020. Hats off to Yibbi Jansen who scored that usual penalty corner goal as always in the last 15 mins that levelled the scoresheets with China 1-1 after an hour’s of normal time before goal keeper Anne Veenendaal deflected most of the shots from China — and that helped the Dutch scorers score their way to a 5th overall Olympics gold medal in Field Hockey 3-1 via penalties over China. They’ve first won it back in LA 1984, Beijing 2008, London 2012, Tokyo 2020 and now Paris 2024.

What a tournament it has been to wrap up the double Dutch Olympics triumph off the back of their men’s team success yesterday v Germany also via penalty shootouts (3-1 after a 1-1 draw after 60 minutes). They knew China wasn’t en easy team to face at all, especially when you got former Hockeyroo as well as Dutch citizen and resident these days Alyson Annan as the opposition head coach. 

They have seen that coming with China’s early 1-0 headstart but at least the Dutch keep on attacking and pressing hard for the most part v the Chinese defense. Although as said, the penalty corners weren’t easy to say when you are playing in an Olympic Final; But at least Yibbi has always got when she finally found the breakthrough to stop the Alyson Annan’s Chinese team from reaching the finish line with her flying Dutch being Olympic Hockey champs once again. It’s been great watching her and her Dutch team play this year so far as seen a few times throughout the 23/24 Pro League season.

And looking at China, you gotta feel how much they’ve made it to the big dance – in which was so much hard work being paid off. We know how good they were to get the ball rolling as seen plenty of times throughout 2024 against the Hockeyroos which was tough to watch from an opposition’s standpoint with a few wins here and there and that early goal have sent the Dutch a big message when it comes to the gold medal fight. Don’t forget they’ve been at their best defensively where China did the best they could to hold out to a close 1-0 win.

However, what really let the Chinese down though is having less ball where they couldn’t get the chance to build on their 1-0 lead on top of their solid defense before Yibbi Jansen’s penalty corner goal in the last 15 took away that chance to hold out the win at the first attempt. Then the penalties have arrived after an hour’s worth of normal time and China just couldn’t find the sweet spot they were after when it comes to these penalty strikes & that was the game it was unfortunately with another runner-up finish. They are currently ranked 8th so China have came from a long way but sure winning more regular season games would be the next best thing soon enough.

So that’s it over in Stade Yves-Du-Manoir Stadium – the home of the 1924 Summer Olympics edition at the same Paris venue 100 years ago. It’s been a whirlwind two weeks of Olympics Field Hockey in Paris 2024 as they’ve been an excellent host while it remains to be seen where our Men’s Kookaburras and Women’s Hockeyroos teams go from there in a bid to win back major honours once again.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: The Men’s Dutch team has done over Germany via penalty shootout for Gold at Paris 2024

by Sports Benches

That Men’s Hockey Gold Medal Final was unbelievable to watch, particularly in the 4th and final quarter as well as penalty shootouts between the Netherlands and Germany. Both teams struggled to find the net for the most part until Netherlands found the first strike before Germany held them back at a penalty corner to bring it to a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw in an hour’s worth of normal time. From then on, Germany unfortunately unable to get away with any successful strokes that paved the way for the Dutch to end their 24-year drought for gold at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir since Sydney 2000 – which was mission accomplished 3-1 in a penalties decider that completed payback from their London 2012 runner-up loss v Germany.

Now the Dutch can finally celebrate gold off the back of their top form where they’ve always been the best of the best in yearly FIH Pro League matches including this Olympics Field Hockey tournament. Shoutout to the experienced keeper Pirmin Blaak who never looked out of place every time he deflected these strikes from the Germans while the defense wasn’t bad and their penalty shooters have been brilliant through the net that sealed them a long-awaited Olympics gold. Now what the Dutch needs to do now is win back both the Pro League & the World Cup. The next Men’s World Cup will be in 2026 on home soil in Amstelveen alongside Belgium’s Wavre and the last time they’ve accomplished that feat was also previously on home soil at Utrecht back in 1998 with the 3-2 extra time win v Spain. 

Heartbreak from Germany with the silver medal as this is the side who also has been at their best but only at major tournaments, such as last year’s World Cup tournament in India and not when it comes to regular season form often v the top teams (6th in 23/24 Pro League term). Their defense wasn’t bad either to start off with & they’ve also benefitted from winning penalties as we’ve seen with the successful penalty corner in the last 15 mins that gave themselves another chance to try win another major title in the form of an Olympics Games gold medal. It’s a shame that their penalty attackers weren’t prepared well to press the experienced Dutch keeper at his own end where he kept all of these hit and miss shots before they well & truly know that the Dutch can have their cake with the gold medal by then following a 3-1 penalties loss there. They may have been great winning these rare tournament titles, but Germany needs to find a way if they wish to beat these top teams more often – so they can hopefully be the No.1 Men’s Hockey team in the World once again next time. 

Now we’ve got the women’s gold medal match to decide before the Olympics Field Hockey program is done tomorrow morning between the Netherlands and China as China’s head coach & former Hockeyroo Alyson Annan is set for mighty Dutch reunion this time as the opposing team. Will that Dutch triumph extend to the women’s team after we just saw with the men earlier this morning? Or will we see a Chinese breakthrough at last with the help of Annan following their Beijing 2008 silver medal loss to that same team last time out? It’s all to play for between these two strong teams at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir.

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Part 2: Wednesday’s Women’s Field Hockey semi-final day review at Paris 2024: Netherlands also unstoppable v Argentina & China win over Belgium via penalty shootouts

by Sports Benches

Following two unmissable men’s semi-finals matches from Tuesday, more Field Hockey action in Paris 2024 continued last night with the women’s semi-final day at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir stadium. One was the Netherlands v Argentina and the other involving Belgium v China as the two winning teams will be set for Friday afternoon’s/Saturday AM gold medal match while the two losing sides will still get one last chance v each other but this time via the best of 3rd place for bronze.

Like we’ve seen with the men’s Netherlands semi-final performance two days ago v Spain, the women’s Netherlands were also unstoppable including defensively with 2 x first half goals from open play followed by a usual Yibbi Jansen stunner when it comes to scoring goals off penalty corners for the 3rd Dutch goal. Despite an improved Argentina ball during the 2nd half, the Netherlands at least ensured they left the game without any Argentina goals 3-0.

Looking at Argentina, they did have some fair share of chances following their improved 2nd half play as no doubt they have been a serious side on a regular basis including this tournament. But again, Argentina’s poor start alongside the execution unfortunately didn’t help them that much, especially when going up against one of the best attacking sides in none other than the Netherlands. Their breakthrough chance for gold after a few shortcomings will have to wait in LA 2028.

And to finish off the women’s semi-final day was a cracking physical encounter between Belgium and China that went down the wire following a 1-1 draw after an hour of normal time via penalty shootouts. China had the early lead off a penalty corner when both teams were scoreless during the first 15 mins & they held that 1-0 advantage for the most part until Belgium scored the equaliser also from a penalty corner with two minutes to go before the match had to be decided via penalties since it’s a knockout semi-final.

Fortunately for China, they found a way once more to book themselves a gold medal spot v Netherlands come Friday/Saturday AM with the 3-2 penalties win that marked a reunion for coach former Hockeyroo Alyson Annan, who used to coach the women’s Netherlands side for so long, even though she lives there and also as a naturalised citizen these days alongside her Dutch partner Carole Thate. Wow!! Great game from both teams by the way when Belgium found themselves back in the game off the back of their good defense and the way they’ve pressed China in the 2nd half until these two missing penalty shots that forced China’s hand and China had a really good match once again that can break anyone team’s hearts as their journey isn’t over just yet on what is about to be their biggest test yet against someone Annan knows so well in none other than the Netherlands. The last time China made the Olympics final was back in Beijing 2008 where they were runner-up to the Netherlands 2-0 as Alyson has the Dutch tactics and know-how to help engineer her Chinese players home for gold.

We now got a London 2012 men’s (Holland v Germany) and Beijing 2008 women’s gold medal (Holland v China) rematches coming our way where this could end up either way going into Tomorrow & Saturday AM our time. Will we see a Dutch triumph this time that could extend that glory to their women’s team or else see Germany and China get their own breakthroughs instead against a team that is so hard to beat right now? We shall see before Paris 2024 finishes this weekend.

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Part 1: Tuesday’s Men’s Field Hockey semi-finals day review at Paris 2024: Netherlands too good v Spain & Germany def. India after an excellent last 15 mins to the match, 3-2

by Sports Benches

It may have been an unfortunate end for both of our Men’s Kookaburras and Wonen’s Hockeyroos teams earlier this week following their respective exits from the Quarter-Finals against the Netherlands & China, but the show must go on at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir as we look back at these excellent last two days of Field Hockey when it comes to the both men’s and women’s semi-finals. First of all, Netherlands were absolutely too good against Spain on what has been a mighty 4-0 win that kickstarted Tuesday evening our time/afternoon in Paris. They scored a goal during each quarter where the first 15 x mins one was off a penalty stroke and another three came from dominant & expansive open play – which simply sensational to watch. Looks like a gold medal opportunity is finally coming when they previously won it back in Sydney 2000 on top of Atlanta 1996.

Tough luck from Spain who had a few chances of their own but just couldn’t grasp at a level where the flying Netherlands team has set the standard that was unchallenged & unmatched all game. Out of 19 Olympic Field Hockey appearances, Spain still haven’t yet collected a gold medal triumph after 3 x silver attempts back in 1980, 1996 and 2008. They can still walk away with a medal though but it will be for bronze and the last time Spain has done that for 3rd was way back in Rome 1960.

Then that 2nd semi match between Germany and India was a thrilling close match where one gets to still be in the running whereas the losing side may continue to play once more but this time for the bronze medal match. India got away with the early lead thanks to the winning penalties following their unreal Quarter-Final escape the other day v Team GB via Penalty Shootouts. But at the end of the day though, Germany had the better attacking ground that puts them one step closer now to tomorrow morning’s gold medal match while India threw these chances away, especially in the 4th and final quarter having unable to get out of trouble any further past the Germans following a painful semi-final blow for the gold medal Final by 3-2.

Hard luck by India even without Amit Rhodas over his stick hit on a Team GB player that saw him forced to sit out over a red card during the Quarter-Final match the other day, but they still weren’t bad though nonetheless all game until the last quarter as a few errors here and there saw Germany reap the rewards by taking greater control of the pitch going forward for the win. Speaking of Germany, it’s been a while since their London 2012 win against the exact same next opponents, as they are now through to Thursday afternoon’s/Friday AM final v Netherlands. It’s going to be the best of the best clash as to whether or not if Germany still holds being the best Olympic Hockey side or else it’s the Netherlands turn who has been winning lots of games elsewhere but not very often though when it comes to winning silverware at the highest levels.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: Kookaburras and now Hockeyroos out of the Quarter-Finals to the Netherlands and China respectively all within the last 24 hours

by Sports Benches

From Day 9 yesterday, the Men’s Kookaburras aspirations of going one better for gold at Paris 2024 unfortunately came to an end in the Quarter-Finals at the end of the Netherlands, 2-0. Yes, the first half or first two x 15 mins weren’t bad for a start with both teams being scoreless as they had plenty of opportunities to strike a few through the net against one of the best Top 2 hockey teams in the world.  We also thought they can cause them a huge storm, having done so back in February earlier this year during the Indian FIH Pro League mini-tournament. But then series of silly mistakes, poor attacking execution and poor discipline ultimately forced their hand to the Dutch with 2 x 2nd half goals en route to their semis berth v Spain on Wednesday at 10pm AEST – one via penalty corner in the 3rd x 15 mins followed by an open strike in the last 15.

Now we’ve just seen the same with the women’s Hockeyroos side just now on Day 10 also from the Quarter-Finals who lost by one goal to China 3-2 – despite a really improved 2nd half play where they did their best to save the match but it was too little, too late unfortunately. They got away with the early goal which was so far, so good – especially when they dominated the last 2 x 15 minute plays by sharing the possession with China after half-time. 

It’s just a shame they’ve been inconsistent play across the pitch, such as the ill-discipline for the most part including the last few mins under presssure that allowed China to cash in & hold them accountable with goals coming their way. The Hockeyroos surrendered an early 1-0 lead into a 3-1 trail behind China ahead of half-time and then a 2-3 loss in the end by a single goal difference as they cannot play any further now much like the Men’s Kookaburras in this Olympics tournament. 

Instead, China will be waiting their next opponent for the semi final come Wednesday night when Belgium v Spain to round off today’s Women’s Quarter-Final day at 4am AEST tomorrow. Hats off to head coach and former Hockeyroos player Alyson Annan with the win, who knows how to get a good sniff of the Hockeyroos, having won a few times over them time and time again as we’ve seen back in April 2024.

For now, Hockey Australia will need to look at both the men’s and women’s teams performances very closely soon enough and see where they will go from there over the next 3-5 years. As said, there were some signs of promise prior to the Olympics that they can both thrive against the world’s best where a Top 3-4 finish would be the bare minimum – no pressure.

But both of their own early QF exits now meant that the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos are still far from the very best that they’re trying to accomplish when you look at the likes of both the Netherlands & Belgium. Looks like we won’t be seeing Colin Batch & Katrina Powell back in the dugout as their respective men’s and women’s teams coaches going into 2025.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: India def. Kookaburras at last in an Olympics match with the 3-2 win thanks to their fast start

by Sports Benches

It was a tight match just now in the last few group stage Field Hockey matches for the men’s leg between the Kookaburras v India at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir (Pitch 2) with India off to a fast start (back-to-back goals in the 1st 15) while Kookaburras only got the one goal during the 2nd x 15 min, and nothing much has changed other than a late Kookaburras surge to try and arrest India towards the end, which was unsuccessful that delighted the Indian team & its supporters with the 3-2 win.

Credit to India with their win today off the back of their dominant possession that got the Kookaburras defenders rattled where most of the goals have come from open play including another via a penalty stroke – hats off there to Harmanpreet Singh for his two goal performance. They could’ve done more when looking to convert these strikes off penalty corners but at least having a rock solid defense on top of a well-structured attack would do enough for India to stop the Kookaburras from settling the score, especially during the last few minutes when the opposition’s last-minute appeal wasn’t successful with the 3-2 win. Yes, they have finally done it v Australia in an Olympics Field Hockey match for the first time that goes way back to Munch in 1972 where they’ve last won it beforehand until now 3-1 via the Pool B group stage match. Now their next match will either be Team GB or Spain depending on the final group stage results later tonight if Team GB can beat Germany there since they finished 2nd in their Group B ladder regardless of the Argentina v Belgium result there due to goal difference.

Now the Kookaburras would be left frustrated and disappointed with their missed scoring opportunities that eventually came back to bite them when India got away with three goals before it was too little, too late. They had picked up some ball including come circle time up front, having took one penalty corner goal going into half-time where the Kookaburras weren’t far away from India’s radar for the overall lead including their second goal off a penalty stroke. It’s just a shame they struggled to match the counter-attack India has set up all game via open play and not even the ill-discipline has helped that much either. All they can hope now is for Belgium to beat Argentina later on and even Team GB to beat Germany at the same time, so the Kookaburras can avoid taking on the No.1 ranked Netherlands from Pool A in the Quarter-Finals starting this weekend.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: China not bad with their improvements after half-time but Germany was unstoppable with the 4-2 win 

by Sports Benches

Brilliant contest to watch to kickstart Friday’s Field Hockey Olympics activities at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir Stadium (Pitch 1) where China put up a great fight following a poor 1st half performance but Germany have the upper hand when it comes to the overall win by 4-2.

Commiserations to China who weren’t bad at times that puts the Germans under pressure, especially when they built a solid defensive structure on top of a good counter-attack as seen with their late charge after half-time. However, they just let themselves down when the executions aren’t there sometimes while picking up some ill-discipline that went the Germans way towards the end. All China can hope now is for the Netherlands to beat Japan early tomorrow, and they can begin their Quarter-Final preparations soon enough v the host nation France – who is currently in last right now with a 0-4 loss in Group A.

And how good was Germany with their 4-2 win, especially when their attacking performance was tip-top as always that gave the Chinese a really hard time to catch them off-guard. Not only they were really effective through open play as seen with back-to-back 2nd quarter strikes, but their winning penalties also helped the Germans added some extra points too – one off a penalty corner and another was via a penalty stroke. They better need to watch themselves out defensively though as China warned them at times via coach Alyson Annan like the Netherlands (Alyson’s adopted country) did other day with the 2-1 loss ahead of Germany’s next & final group stage match v Belgium tomorrow.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: Kookaburras complete 5-0 demolition win v Black Sticks

by Sports Benches

We had a Trans-Tasman rivalry this time in the Men’s Olympic Games Field Hockey tonight coming from Stade-Yves-Du-Manoir Stadium in Paris between the Kookaburras and the Black Sticks. It was a quiet and scoreless first 15 to begin with but the Kookaburras have been absolutely destructive upfront with back-to-back goals in the 2nd 15 followed by another one in the 3rd quarter before they finished the game courtesy of a Blake Govers hat-trick masterclass as the final score was 5-0. That means, the Black Sticks won’t be able to advance into the Quarter-Finals with one game to go at 1am AEST Saturday v Ireland.

It’s not been their day today from the Black Sticks on what has been a brutal 5-0 loss as they still have yet to have taken the win in this tournament, even though they came here as outsiders. Sure, they defended really well off the back through a series of Kookaburras’ missed opportunities while denying access at their own end that leads to a couple of good attempts on the counter-attack. They just couldn’t find the middle ground when it comes to these conversions unfortunately including a few winning penalties and when you lack numbers, there’s no way the Black Sticks can give themselves a fighting chance to rattle Andrew Charter where they were toothless in that attacking department alone. All they can do now is finish off on a high v Ireland who is most certainly leaving the group stages early in 5th right now and yet Ireland are also winless so far either.

And great to see the Kookaburras respond to that unfortunate 6-2 loss yesterday v Belgium with a 5-0 win v the Black Sticks with one game to go tomorrow night at 9.15pm v India. One way to describe their performance – strong and powerful. This was exactly what the Kookaburras has done every time they harried the Black Sticks defenders with a lot of ball that led to back-to-back 2nd x 15 mins goals followed by a succession of goals throughout the 2nd half including two from penalty corners before they are well and truly secure & yet they didn’t stop attacking as if they’re preparing for fightback against a top team like Belgium to see how it’s done. There’s unfinished business here having finished 2nd to them at the last Olympics tournament in Tokyo, Japan four years ago, a win v India would hopefully open up an extended run to go all the way in Paris.

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