A feast of international hockey awaits fans this week, with both the men’s and women’s national squads in action against Canada and Australia respectively.
The women’s four-Test series against the powerful Australians is another chance for coach Ros Howell to fine-tune her squad for the upcoming Olympics.
And following their dramatic come-from-behind 4-3 victory over the Hockeyroos in Athens on Saturday, the series promises to be a humdinger.
For the men, however, the situation has become a little more desperate with time running out before the all-important Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Madrid next month.
Men’s coach Paul Revington will have been left with more questions than answers after the Tests against The Netherlands in Cape Town, and Germany and Canada in Potchefstroom in January and is frantically searching for a balanced combination.
The Canadians are also involved in the Madrid tournament and should prove another stern test in the three Tests following their narrow 1-0 victory in the first three-Test series (in Potch) last month.
The first two Tests were drawn before the Canadians scored a narrow win in the final Test to clinch that series and a similar result would not help the squad’s frail morale.
Greg Nicol is back in the team after a year’s sabbatical, but even the ace goal-poacher has been unable to turn things around following the shattering defeat to Egypt in the All Africa Games final last October.
The team seem to be in an inexorable slide towards not qualifying for the Olympics, which would be heart-breaking for some players who missed out on Sydney 2000 for political reasons.
Several experienced hands — the talented Mike Cullen and Dave Staniforth among them — are rumoured to be unavailable for the qualifiers.
It leaves Revington with little time to find capable replacements for two critical positions. While Eastern Province goalkeeper Chris Hibbert is world-class in his own right, the coach needs to find a back-up in the event of injury.
The biggest problem seems to be in the goal-scoring department and an able partner for Nicol is urgently required.
Howell and her team, meanwhile, are riding the crest of the wave and continued their excellent form from last to defeat highly ranked Spain 2-1 in Durban last month.
They have turned in some world-class performances in the four-nation tournament in Athens that finished on Sunday, beating teams ranked way above them with aplomb and panache.
Although Australia (fourth) are nine places above South Africa (13th) in the world rankings, the series is far from a foregone conclusion.
Chances are the fourth Test at the Randburg Hockey Stadium could prove to be a nail-biting climax to what will be an extremely tight series. — Sapa
Fixtures:
Monday February 9: SA men v Canada, Pretoria Technikon (7pm)
Tuesday February 10: SA men v Canada, Pretoria Technikon (7pm)
Wednesday February 11: SA women v Australia, Randburg Astro (7.30pm)
Thursday February 12: SA men v Canada, Pretoria Technikon (5.30pm); SA women v Australia, Pretoria Technikon (7.30pm)
Saturday February 14: SA women v Australia, Pretoria Technikon (3pm)
Sunday February 15: SA women v Australia, Randburg Astro (3pm)