THE South African men’s hockey team fought bravely but could not overcome South American champions, Argentina, at a sodden University of KZN Pietermaritzburg pitch on Tuesday night going down 2-1. This meant a 5-0 series win over a young inexperienced and it has to be said experimental SA team.

The teams were deadlocked 0-0 at halftime but the Argentines kept up the pressure and opened the scoring against the African champions two minutes after the break (37th) when Facundo Callioni finished superbly after good defending had halted the initial move.

The home team were soon down to 10 men when umpire Ayden Shrives yellow-carded his former Maritzburg Varsity club-mate, Robin Jones, and minutes later (59th) the supremely talented Lucas Vila ran directly across the field from left to right before his pass was tapped in by an unmarked Matias Paredes lurking on the left goalpost.

The impressive crowd, who stayed the distance in the atrocious weather, erupted when SA pulled a goal back three minutes from the end (67th). A wonderful flowing move that belied the heavy, rain-soaked synthetic turf underfoot saw Pierre de Voux provide the final pass to fellow striker Taine Paton who swept the ball home from the edge of the strike zone.

SA have already qualified for next year’s World Cup finals in the Netherlands in May/June and it’s clear with this series the SA brains trust were experimenting with different combinations before making a final decision on the final team.

Facts

Argentina had 10 different goal scorers during the series and netted 17 goals to South Africa’s 8 goals.

SA striker Craig Haley finished the series as top goal scorer for SA with three goals while Riverside Hockey Club player Taine Paton scored two goals.

Argentina’s Lucas Rossi and Facundo Callioni each scored three goals on the tour. Rossi scored his first hat-trick against SA in the third test match.

In the third test match 10 players were sent to the sin bin – six Argentineans and four South Africans. Five players were banished to the bin in one particularly tempestuous 10-minute period during the second half.

Series results
Argentina 4-2 South Africa (Riverside Sports Club)
Argentina 1-0 South Africa (Kearsney College)
Argentina 3-2 South Africa (Queensmead)
Argentina 7-3 South Africa (Queensmead)
Argentina 2-1 South Africa (UKZN PMB)

Goal scorers

SA goal scorers: Matt Botha (1), Miguel da Graca (1), Craig Haley (3), Taine Paton (2)

Argentina scorers: Pedro Ibarra (2), Facundo Callioni (3), Lucas Vila (1), Juan Martin Lopez (1), Lucas Rey (1), Juan Ignacio Gilardi (1), Joaquin Menini (1), Guido Barreiros (1), Lucas Rossi (3), Matias Rey (1), Matias Paredes (2)