The Black Sticks women's team have lost their third
consecutive build-up game to next week's Champions Trophy in
Argentina and coach Mark Hager has concluded they aren't
working hard enough.
The 2-0 defeat by Great Britain in the Four Nations challenge
in Cordoba, Argentina, overnight (Sat/Sun NZT), follows New
Zealand's 7-3 thrashing by Argentina and a 6-4 loss to South
Korea.
While the Black Sticks could still achieve a placing - they
will play-off for third and fourth against South Korea
tomorrow morning - their performances ahead of a Champions
Trophy tournament in which they finished third last year are
concerning.
"We're just not working hard enough at the moment,'' Hager
said. "The `one percenters' aren't coming off at the moment.
I know we haven't had luck coming our way but you make your
own luck and we're not working for it.''
The British team have been the form outfit of the tournament,
with victories over South Korea and Argentina heading into
the match against New Zealand and they scored both of their
goals from penalty corners.
While Hager said his side were better defensively, the
performance wouldn't have given him much confidence ahead of
their first Champions Trophy match against Argentina in
Rosario on Sunday (January 29).
He told the Herald on Sunday before the Great Britain game
that he felt other nations had moved ahead of New Zealand,
who are ranked sixth in the world.
"We had a great year [in 2011] but at the moment it feels
like other teams have moved on and we have plateaued a bit,''
Hager said. "It has certainly been a huge wake-up call and,
to their credit, the girls have been quite harsh on
themselves. They are hurting, too.''
He added: "There is a lack of cohesion and understanding. We
are scoring goals which is a plus but defensively we have
capitulated in both second halves. It is disappointing and
well below the standards we have set for ourselves.''
Mitigating factors included rustiness and a rotation of
players in the opening games but Hager wouldn't offer
excuses.
"Plain and simple, we've been poor on defence: poor basic
skills, inability to tackle and lack of patience which has
led to diving in and conceding needless penalty corners.''
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