Back to earth with a thump

The Black Sticks Men fell to world No 3 the Netherlands overnight on Monday at the Men’s Hockey World Cup in India.

In the hotly anticipated clash between the top two sides in pool C, the Kiwis were unable to get a foothold in the game and went down 4-0.

It was a great start for the Dutch who, only several minutes in, intercepted a backline pass putting Thierry Brinkman through one-on-one with the keeper with the Dutchman cooly slotting it home.

The Dutch pulled off a very nice counter-attack and Brinkman was able to easily score in the open goal.

The Dutch remained in control throughout the second quarter and were rewarded with a spectacular goal when a pinpoint pass from Jonas de Geus found the perfectly placed stick of Koen Bijen at the edge of the circle deflecting the ball past the defenders and goalkeeper.

The second half was much more promising for the New Zealanders who came out of the sheds with renewed vigour.

They created a number of opportunities to get into the attacking circle but were unable to be clinical with their final pass, partly due to a compact Dutch defence.

Goalkeeper Leon Hayward also provided some excellent saves at the other end but couldn’t keep out Tjep Hoedemakers in the 55th minute who put the Netherlands 4-0 up.

The Black Sticks next play Malaysia in their final pool game at 8.30pm on Thursday NZT.

The top three teams in the pool advance in the competition with the top team going straight to the quarter-finals, and the second and third placed teams playing crossover games.