Oceania Cup starts in Sydney
The Black Sticks men and women will kick off their Oceania Cup campaigns this week with the tournament likely to be a training ground for next month’s World League Final at home.
The continental championship runs through to Sunday, with both the New Zealand sides expected to make the finals.
The women will play today against Papua New Guinea while the men will start their campaign tomorrow against arch rivals the Kookaburras.
The Oceania Cup is an event that has traditionally seen the final contested by New Zealand and Australia, but it is also an event that allows the developing nations of Oceania to pit their skills against the two top-10 ranked opponents.
Both the Black Sticks and Australia already qualified for the men’s and women’s hockey World Cups in Bhubaneswar and London, respectively.
France men and Ireland women are the two teams anxiously waiting on the results from Sydney.
In the women’s competition, Australia has the bragging rights as the Hockeyroos have won the event
six times, but New Zealand have taken the trophy home on three occasions and will be looking to build on a successful Hockey World League Semi-Final campaign where
they finished second, while Australia finished fifth.
The past two cups have gone to shoot-out, with Australia taking the gold on both occasions.