HAERA RA BIRMINGHAM, AND SEE YOU SOON NZ

After spirited campaigns at the Women’s World Cup and the Commonwealth Games, our Vantage Black Sticks (VBS) are heading home with plenty to build from in the coming months.

The VBS Women left New Zealand’s shores in June to compete at the Women’s World Cup in Spain and Netherlands. After some challenging warm up matches, the squad was well prepared to take on the ‘pool of death’ and fight for a place in the knock-out stages.

Throughout pool play the team continued to improve and, after a first-up draw against China, really found their rhythm securing memorable victories over India and England to top the pool and automatically qualify for the quarterfinals.

There they faced Germany, who prevailed 1-0 in a tight match to advance to the semi-finals.

While the team wanted to progress deeper into the tournament, they secured their best finish at a World Cup (5th) and came away knowing that the young squad could mix it with the best in the world.

After a well-earned rest period, the squad then travelled to Birmingham to join the New Zealand Commonwealth Games team, along with the Vantage Black Sticks Men’s squad. The VBS Men had arrived in Birmingham fresh from warm-up matches in France and Holland.

Unfortunately prior to the start of the campaign, Simon Yorston and Joe Morrison were ruled out of the Games with injuries and were ably replaced by Brad Read and Jordan Cohen.

The VBS Men’s Commonwealth Games campaign got off to a thrilling start when after, trailing 5-1 to Scotland, struck four times in quick session, showing grit and tenacity to secure a 5-all draw.

After a dominant win against Pakistan, and a loss to Australia the team required a win in their final pool match, against South Africa, but were on the losing end of an absolute cracker 4-3 match. The team closed out the tournament with a win against Wales to secure 5th spot.

Building from a strong World Cup campaign, the VBS Women easily dispatched Kenya in their opening game in Birmingham, before a close 1-0 victory over Scotland. Close matches were then to become the norm for this squad as they narrowly lost to Australia 1-0 before easing past South Africa 4-1 to secure their place in a semi-final against England.

After 60 minutes, the two teams couldn’t be separated and despite two fantastic first-up saves from Grace O’Hanlon, the Black Sticks succumbed to a shoot-out defeat. More heartbreak awaited in the bronze medal match, as the team lost in a second consecutive penalty shoot-out – this time to India.

VBSW assistant coach Verity Sharland said of the two heart-breaking losses, “the girls have a lot to be proud of and once they get over the hurt, they’ll reflect on how the last eight weeks have gone and realise what they’ve achieved.”

While it’s disappointing not to come away with any silverware this time around, we’re incredibly proud of both teams’ efforts and the way they represented New Zealand.

On behalf of the Vantage Black Sticks, we want to say thanks to all of you for all your support – we can’t wait to re-join the Pro-League in October this year!