Punt excited but nervous ahead of home town clash with Argentina

After 211 tests for the Black Sticks, it’s not often firsts come about for captain Anita Punt.

But today the zippy midfielder will get the opportunity to tick off a very big one — play a test in her home town of Nelson. The Black Sticks take on the world No 3 Argentina side in the third test of the South Island tour, before the final test in Christchurch on Friday.

Punt said she is “excited but nervous” to get the opportunity to play a test back where it all began for her.

“It’s pretty cool to be back home,” she said. “I’m really excited to have my friends and family out there to watch me, but I’m a bit nervous as well.”

The two sides head into the match with one win apiece, after the Black Sticks levelled the series on Saturday with a 3-2 win, courtesy of a late goal to Olivia Merry. It followed a 2-1 loss in the opening test. Despite achieving a better outcome on Saturday, Punt said the team still aren’t happy with several aspects of their performance.

“We haven’t been playing our best hockey, so to still get the win when we weren’t at the top of our game is great,” she said.

“We had better patches, I guess. But we still weren’t happy with our consistency in some areas, so hopefully we will come out even better again in this next game.”

A bit of rustiness was to be expected from the Black Sticks, who are playing in their first tests since their fourth-place finish at the World League semifinals in Belgium. For this campaign, Black Sticks coach Mark Hager has recalled several veterans, including defender Emily Naylor and striker Charlotte Harrison, and Punt said the team have taken a bit longer than hoped to click into gear. “We’ve only been back playing as a group since Monday, so our structure and discipline isn’t as sharp as it should be.”

Hnzherald.co.nz For live streaming of today’s game, go to nzherald.co.nz/

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Meanwhile, Argentina have brought more of a development team to New Zealand, with several new caps in the side, but Punt said some of the young talent coming through are just as dangerous as their experienced stars.

“They’re a fast counter-attacking team, much like we are, so it’s very fast and exciting hockey when we come up against one another.”

Today’s match will be streamed live and exclusively on nzherald.co.nz from 5pm, before the Black Sticks men play their opening test against India at 7pm.