Black Sticks Men unbeaten to semifinals
- 11 hours ago
- 2 min read
The Black Sticks Men's teame have finished pool play at hockey's FIH Nations Cup unbeaten, beating Japan 5-2 in Cape Town to secure top spot in Pool A and set up a semifinal clash with hosts South Africa.
The match carried plenty of significance. A win or draw would mean New Zealand finish top of the pool and avoid a last four clash with France.
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Defender Kane Russell entered the match sitting on 99 international goals and wasted little time in scoring his 100th.
Japan's goalkeeper initially denied Russell on multiple occasions, producing some top saves to keep New Zealand from scoring.
However with just over a minute remaining in the quarter, Russell finally got his moment.
Stepping up to another penalty corner, his drag flick was too fast for the goalkeeper or defenders to stop, with Russell reaching 100 international goals in 222 matches for New Zealand.
Late in the second quarter, Russell won a penalty stroke and converted to double New Zealand's lead and move to 101 international goals.
Scott Boyde scored with just minutes left in the first half to give the Black Sticks a 3-0 halftime lead.
New Zealand extended their advantage in the third quarter through Sam Lane, but Japan got on the scoreboard shortly after through a penalty stroke.
Japan were also the next to score to cut New Zealand's lead to 4-2, before Boyde scored his second goal of the match to seal the 5-2 victory for the Black Caps, who end pool play with four wins from four matches.
New Zealand finish top of Pool A on 12 points and will face hosts South Africa in the semifinal at 2.45am on Saturday.
