Belgium show their worth

THE SOUTH AFRICAN men’s hockey team had no answer to the fleet-footed Belgians as they went down 3-0 in their third and final match in the Summer Series at Hartleyvale last night.

Belgium dominated most of the game and showed why they won the silver medal at the Rio Olympics.

In the first chukka there were no goals, but in the first minute of the second quarter Belgium’s Mathew Cobbaert got the scoreboard ticking. Nicolas de Kerpel punished the South Africans with a goal in the 20th minute to make it 2-0.

In the second half Belgium upped the pace and standard even more.

They played fast, controlled, attacking hockey and gave the hosts no room.

South Africa goalkeeper Gowan Jones did great work to keep the scoreline down, but De Kerpel finally scored from a penalty corner to make it 3-0.