Highlights of matches from the Rabo Trophy can be viewed at FieldHockey TV
Australia continued their destructive path through the men’s Rabo Trophy with an overwhelming second half completing a 6-2 rout of England in Amsterdam yesterday.
After taking a 1-0 lead into the break, Australia piled on five second half goals at consistent intervals to record their second successive victory and move to the top of pool B ahead of Korea. Korea also sits on six points but have an extra match and have significantly inferior goal difference (-9) than the Kookaburras.
Matthew Wells opened the scoring for the Olympic champions with 33rd-minute penalty corner strike and although England equalised three minutes after half time, Australia steadied and surged ahead with three goals in 11 minutes soon after to open a match-winning 4-1 lead.
England’s second goal through Rob Moore reduced the margin to two before first-year international players, Luke Doerner and Matthew Naylor, scored late in the match to complete a comprehensive second half performance for Australia.
The Kookaburras play Netherlands in their final Pool match on Friday and only a disastrous performance will prevent them from participating in Sunday’s final.
In the other match yesterday, Korea recovered from Tuesday’s mauling by Australia to upset Netherlands 2-1 and destroy the home team’s tournament ambitions. The best the Netherlands can now hope for is a third place finish in Pool B and a playoff for fifth position.
With the European teams concentrating on more important matches at the European Nations Cup (and automatic World Cup berths) starting on 28 August in Leipzig, the Rabo Trophy has been more about preparation for that tournament than success in Amsterdam.
Results
Australia 6 defeated England 2
Goals: AUS - Matthew Wells PC 33m, Jamie Dwyer FG 44m, Grant Schubert FG 50m, Ben Bishop PC 55m, Luke Doerner FG 66m, Matthew Naylor FG 70m; ENG – Richard Alexander FG 38m, Rob Moore FG 60m
Korea 2 defeated Netherlands 1
Goals: KOR – Jung Seon Lee PC 30m, Sung Hoon Yoon FG 50m; NED - Roderick Weusthof PC 37m
Thursday’s Matches
India v Pakistan, 17:00
Spain v Germany, 20:00
Points Table
Pool A
Spain 4pts
Germany 3 pts
Pakistan 1pts
India 0pts
Pool B
Australia 6pts
Korea 6pts
Netherlands 1pt
England 1pt
