Thursday’s feature game at the Oceania Cup, the TET Black Sticks Men against Australia, had to be postponed due to unplayable conditions at the TET MultiSports Centre in Stratford.
As the afternoon progressed the weather got progressively worse until the turf became completely flooded along with a nasty wind chill shortly after the completion of the Black Sticks Women versus Papua New Guinea game, which the Kiwis won 25-0.
With the Black Sticks Men and Australia tentatively warming up for the game, tournament officials made the call 10 minutes before the scheduled 1730 start (UTC/GMT +13) to postpone the game for player welfare reasons.
The game has been rescheduled to 1100 tomorrow morning, and will still be streamed live on the Hockey New Zealand website (www.hockeynz.co.nz)
The TET Black Sticks Women just escaped the worst of the rain in their 25-0 rout of Papua New Guinea.
In just her second game for New Zealand, Canterbury striker Sophie Cocks made a huge impression on the scorecard with six goals.
Gemma Flynn and Anita Punt both scored four goals each while Petrea Webster and Krystal Forgesson recorded hat-tricks.
Australia women were also big winners, surging to a 23-0 win over Samoa.
Friday is a rest day at the Oceania Cup, aside from the replay of the Black Sticks Men versus Australia game. The Black Sticks Men and Women are both up against Samoa on Saturday.
For more information on the Oceania Cup, CLICK HERE
OCEANIA CUP RESULTS
THURSDAY 31 OCTOBER
MEN
TET Black Sticks
Australia
Match postponed due to heavy rain
Papua New Guinea: 4
Samoa: 1
Halftime: Papua New Guinea 2-0
WOMEN
TET Black Sticks 25: (Sophie Cocks 6, Gemma Flynn 4, Anita Punt 4, Krystal Forgesson 3, Petrea Webster 3, Kayla Sharland 2, Sam Charlton, Rhiannon Dennison, Julia King)
Papua New Guinea 0
Halftime: Black Sticks 14-0
Australia : 23
Samoa: 0
Halftime: Australia 12-0
