Roper scores twice as England win thriller for bronze
Maidenhead's Phil Roper netted twice to help England’s men secure a third consecutive Commonwealth Games bronze medal on Monday after they won a nine-goal thriller 6-3 against South Africa.
Roper’s goals in the 40th and 50th minutes were sandwiched between strikes from Rhys Smith (19 FG), Liam Ansell (24 FG), Marlow’s Sam Ward (25 PC) and Zach Wallace (59 PS) as England eventually ran out comfortable winners.
England were playing in the bronze medal match after an agonising 3-2 defeat to eventual champions, Australia, in the semi-final.
South Africa briefly threatened to spoil England's celebrations on Monday. Matthew Guise-Brown (18 PC); Mustapha Cassiem (22 FG); Nqobile Ntuli (30; PC) all found the net, but the hosts twice dragged themselves level through goals from Smith and Ansell. Ward then put them in front, only for South Africa to strike
back through Ntuli on the stroke of half-time.
Roper restored England’s advantage with a smart finish in the third quarter before his scrappy second, and a Wallace penalty stroke, ensured the hosts wouldn’t be leaving Birmingham empty handed.
It is the fourth time England have won bronze in the men’s tournament, the crop of 2022 replicating the achievements of the 1998, 2014 and
2018 sides.
Captain Wallace, 22, said: “Going into the tournament we wanted the gold, but I’m thrilled with bronze.
“The performance wasn’t amazing, but we got over the line pretty comfortably in the end and I’m absolutely delighted.”
On England women’s gold medal win, Wallace added: “It definitely inspired us. We were all down watching and cheering them on - we’re very close with the girls - and we were absolutely buzzing for them.
“At the same time, we don’t want to let them get too many up on us! We want to put ourselves in the mix for medals as well.”