Proteas face French in Hockey World Cup warm-up

THE PROTEAS men will start their preparations for the FIH Hockey World Cup in earnest when they take on France in a four-leg series at Wits University over the next week.

It will be the first time the two sides meet as they look to gain valuable momentum ahead of the global showpiece.

South Africa will feature at the World Cup for the sixth time where they will be looking to improve on their previous best 10th-place finishes from 2010 and 1994.

France secured the final spot at the 2018 World Cup when they finished seventh at the Hockey World League Semi-Finals at Wits last year.

The four-leg series should provide both teams with good competition ahead of the World Cup next month with South Africa ranked 15th and France 16th in the world.

South Africa will call on the vast experience of stalwarts Austin Smith, Rhett Halkett, Rassie Pieterse and Julian Hykes.

The French squad in turn boast four centurions in Tom Genestet, Hugo Genestet, Jean- Baptiste Fogues and Gaspard Baumgarten.

The Proteas are fresh off recent team camps in Durban with the foreign-based players joining their local counterparts for the series.

The sides will crossing swords on Saturday and Sunday at noon, November 9 at 19:30 and November 10 at 16:00 at Wits.

MEN’S SQUAD

Tim Drummond (captain), Dayaan Cassiem, Taylor Dart, Tyson Dlungwana, Jethro Eustice, Rhett Halkett, Tommy Hammond, Keenan Horne, Julian Hykes, Gowan Jones, Peabo Lembethe, Mo Mea, Owen Mvimbi, Bili Ntuli, Taine Paton, Rassie Pieterse, Austin Smith, Nic Spooner.