Ntuthuko Maphumulo hockey
The Italians arrived in good spirit just 28 hours before the first match in the five-Test series against South Africa hoping to emulate their soccer counterparts, who beat Bafana 1-0 last week. The visitors’ young squad coped with the drizzle and the altitude but not the home side’s stickwork and hunger for international competition.
Striker Greg Nicol was man of the match, scoring three goals in South Africa’s 5-0 win.
The coach of South African hockey Rob Pullen said his team “have not yet connected but have set the standard of the game and hope to improve throughout the series”.
Pullen said all the players that have been selected to play for South Africa in the Test series will be given a game including two of the team’s top stars, Craig Fulton and Wayne Denne, who play in the English league but are expected back for this weekend’s series finale. By then the Italians will have had time to acclimatise and they showed their potential on Tuesday when only good South African defence prevented them making a second-half comeback. The Italians, ranked 25th in the world, are using this series as a warm-up for a four-nations tournament against France, Wales and Argentina.
South Africa, number 13, does not have any other international fixtures on the immediate horizon.
The local hockey players will then return to their league fixtures and prepare for the interprovincial tournament to take place in July. From there a squad will be chosen to represent South Africa in the World Cup for hockey next year.