Kookaburras Finish Top of World Cup Pool

The Kookaburras have finished the top of Pool A in the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela and NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Blake Govers awarded player of the final pool match.

“We got our goals early which was good because we weren’t very tidy in our performance in the second half. Overall it has been a good start to the World Cup,” Blake said.

After a brief hiccup in their game against Argentina, Australia were back to their scoring best right from the first whistle in the game against South Africa, winning the match 9-2.

Blake, who scored the all important equaliser against Argentina was on fire, scoring four times in the first half to go level with Jip Janssen and Thierry Brinkman on the top scorer list.

South Africa did manage to get on level terms after Australia’s opener, but the Kooaburras added six goals in between the 10th and 28th minute to make the South African equaliser in the eighth minute seem like a distant memory by the time the half time whistle blew.

Jeremy Hayward added an eighth for Australia in the 32nd minute, but that would be the only goal scored in the third quarter as South Africa tightened their defence.

Tevin Kok had a great opportunity to score a goal as the time expired in the third quarter, but his attempted lob over the keeper sailed over the goal.

South Africa’s resurgence continued in the final quarter as well, as NSWIS scholarship holder Tim Brand’s early fourth quarter goal was cancelled off by a late goal by Tevin Kok to keep the scoring in the final quarter balanced.

The Kookaburras finished at the top of Pool A and have secured a quarter final spot at 1630 local time on Tuesday 24 January. Their opponent is still to be determined.

Result: 

Australia 9-2 South Africa

Player of the Match: Blake Govers (AUS)

Umpires: Ben Goentgen (GER), David Tomlinson (NZL), Javed Shaikh (IND-video)

Article courtesy of FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023