The FIH Men’s Pro League encounters got underway on Tuesday, 8 February at the NWU Astroturf with some scintillating hockey leading to a plethora of goals.
The hosts, South Africa, felt the brunt of these goals against them with a 11-1 loss against the Netherlands on Tuesday, as well as a 10-2 loss against India on Wednesday.
It has to be added that most of the countries participating consists of fully professional hockey players, with a distinct gulf in class.
Still, it gives the SA hockey side an opportunity to test themselves against the best and improve against the top nations.
SA are positive about how they kept India to a 2-2 score line in the second half, after a poor start in the first. “We struggled to get into our rhythm, but the second half was a big change.
The first goal shifted the momentum in the second half,” stated one of the goal scorers for SA, Dan Bell.
“We just need to keep being competitive against the top nations” added Bell. “It’s always awesome to score against top nations in world, but we need to be more clinical in the circle,” added SA goalscorer, Richard Pautz.
Of the 20 SA mens players that were in the 2020 Olympics squad, only 10 played against India. The other 10 are unavailable due to work commitments or are injured whilst the experienced Rassie Pieterse and Austin Smith are retired.
SA next face the Netherlands on Saturday, 12 February and India on Sunday, 13 February in the next round of matches.
Results:
France 0 – India 5
SA 1 – Netherlands 11
SA 2 – India 10
France 2 – Netherlands 2 (Netherlands win 4-2 on penalties)
