Improved ranking vital

Press, 18 April 1986, Page 10

Improved ranking vital

By

KEVIN TUTTY

It is almost two years since the New Zealand women’s hockey team played in an international tournament. The last time was at the Olympic Games at Los Angeles, and New Zealand was a disappointing sixth out of six. Over the next week New Zealand will be able to gauge its progress — or lack of it — since the Olympics, in a six-team tournament in Sydney. The tournament is a replacement for the one which the New Zealand Women’s Hockey Association planned to hold in Wellington over Anzac Week-end, but had to cancel. Among New Zealand’s opponents at the Homebush Hockey Centre in Sydney will be three teams which finished above it in the rankings at the Olympics — Australia, Canada and the United States. South Korea and the Australian under-21 team, comprising mainly players from the Australian Institute of Sport in Perth, are the other two teams. New Zealand has played only two internationals since the Olympics — both against Eng-

land in Wellington last year. It won one game and lost the other. England is a doughty opponent and there was an indication from those tests that the New Zealand team might be progressing towards the success it enjoyed in the 1970 s when it had a string of 23 internationals in which it was unbeaten. Jenny McDonald, who was a member of the teams in the 19705, and is now the New Zealand captain, believes the side is poised to progress up the international rankings again. The tournament in Sydney is vital for New Zealand. It will allow the coach, Wayne Boyd, and assistant coach, Pat Barwick, to spot the problem areas and have time to correct them before the team leaves for the World Cup in Amsterdam in July. The cancelled New Zealand tournament was to have been a qualifying tournament for the next Olympics in Seoul. That is, the results were to be considered when the

teams for the Seoul tournament are chosen. The Australian tournament, because it has only five national teams, will not now carry that tag. That should take a little pressure off the New Zealanders, and allow the players to express themselves a little more freely. There are five new players in the team; one, Margot Edwards of Auckland, was added only this week to replace Shane Collins, of Canterbury, who had to withdraw with a leg injury. McDonald said the younger players have given the team more flexibility, which has allowed it to move away from what she said was a stereotyped game that the team has tended to play. “We will still play the short-passing game that we have always played, but we want to turn the possession that we get into goals. We have not been able to do that in the last few years.” The team has begn working on achievfifg

more penetration on attack and also on its penalty corner combination. McDonald believes that the penalty corner unit is now as fluent as those of the better teams in the world who rely heavily on this form of goal scoring. The Christchurch back, Mary Clinton, is the striker. The advent of artificial surfaces in New Zealand will play a major part in any improvement in New Zealand’s international ranking, said McDonald. The team is able to train in an environment similar to what it strikes overseas, although its preparation for this tour had been interrupted. A training week-end planned for Wellington a month ago was cancelled because Wellington airport was closed. New Zealand plays its first game this evening, against the talented Australian team. Its other matches are against the United States tomorrow, Australian under-21 on Sunday, South Korea on Tuesday and Canada on Wednesday. Play-offs will be held on Thursday and Friday.