Ken Borland

Not once has South African men’s hockey coach Garreth Ewing suggested that the FIH Hockey Pro League will be anything but daunting, and it will get no easier for his team as their next assignment sees them travel to Argentina to play the 2016 Olympic champions in two Tests on April 23 and 24.

Having hosted a leg of the tournament in Potchefstroom in February, in which they lost all eight matches and conceded 52 goals against Germany, France, India and the Netherlands, South Africa are now well aware of the high standards in the competition.

“It was harder than we expected, I must admit,” Ewing told The Citizen. “But it was really disappointing that it took us a bit long to adjust to the tempo, admittedly against very good sides.

“There was improvement through the tournament though and we were quite disappointed not to get a couple of results in the end.

“Although it was a mentally and physically tough tournament for us, it was a very valuable exercise based on the squad we had, the rotation of players and the opportunities we gave them.

“We also made some tactical progress in terms of the areas of the game without the ball – how you pressurise the ball and utilise space. And there were glimpses of good counter-attack,” Ewing said.

South Africa will be bringing a new-look squad to Argentina, due to the unavailability of some of their players, the bulk of whom are amateurs. But, on the positive side, regular captain Tim Drummond returns, having been absent during the local leg of the Pro League.

“We’ve had selection issues and the unavailability of players is an ongoing challenge. So there will be quite a few changes,” Ewing said.

“Having Tim back will make a big difference, especially in terms of his experience and leadership. We’re playing in Buenos Aires, so we’ll be up against big crowds, which we are not used to over the last couple of years.

“There are still some technical weaknesses we need to sort out, both in attack and defence, in terms of how we hang on to the ball when we have it and the pressure we exert without the ball.

“There was a bit of a lack of continuity due to getting things wrong at just the wrong time. But at times we were really good but just didn’t get good outcomes. We would get to the circle but just not get the ball in the goals,” Ewing said.

While there would have been some joyous relief for the South African team not to have to play powerhouses Netherlands or India, their FIH Hockey Pro League match against France in Potchefstroom on Tuesday night still ended in defeat as they went down 4-1.

While France are ranked just two places above South Africa in 12^th on the world rankings, they are arguably the most improved side in the game in recent years. So the good news for the embattled South Africans is that they matched France in the middle of the field, but it was in the circles where the European side were just way more clinical.

France went 2-0 up in the first 10 minutes through two deflection goals, but South Africa had also looked threatening, no more so when Bili Ntuli’s reverse-sticks shot came off the post after Bradley Sherwood, who was an encouraging addition to the side, robbed a defender of possession.

The hosts then held France scoreless in the second quarter and were creating enough opportunities for them to feel they could yet njotch their first Pro League win.

But France were just too clinical in the second half, making full use of the opportunities they had. In the 41^st minute, they pounced on one loose pass by South Africa, racing down the right of the field before crossing to the middle, where Gaspard Baumgartner finished the move for his second goal.

France went 4-0 up in the 54^th minute through similar ruthlessness on the counter-attack. A quick overhead from a free hit found an attacker on the edge of the circle, he put in the cross, which was missed by an SA defender, allowing Timothee Clement to score.

It was also a feature of the match that France’s defence remained impressively composed and solid, while South Africa’s tended to make costly basic mistakes every now and then.

South Africa did, however, get on the scoreboard with three minutes remaining when the Cassiem brothers, Mustapha and Dayaan, combined superbly for Dayaan to put the chance away. He had hit the crossbar just a minute earlier when Mustapha had also been the provider.

South Africa kept their structure and pushed India all the way in the first half of their FIH Hockey Pro League match in Potchefstroom on Sunday, but really lost focus in the second half and ended up being hammered 10-2.

India had been beaten 5-2 by France the previous evening, so they were certainly keen to rebound and they scored some cracking goals, as well as being ruthless at short-corner time, Harmanpreet Singh scoring four goals.

But South Africa had taken the early lead through Dan Bell’s low penalty corner flick in the 12^th minute, although Surender Kumar equalised three minutes later with a real rocket into the top of the net.

South Africa defended really well in the first half and it took another excellent strike, a fierce lofted hit by Shilaland Lakra, for India to score three minutes from halftime.

But the home side were hard on attack at the end of the half and they should have equalised, but the ball was given away and India’s rapid counter-attack saw a 2-on-1 with the goalkeeper, Mandeep Singh putting them 3-1 up.

The second half saw South Africa pay a heavy price for once again giving possession away too often and failing to capitalise on their own chances. India were brilliant on the counter-attack, going 5-1 up at the end of the third quarter and then scoring five more goals in the last 15 minutes as the home side really fell apart.

In terms of their finishing, South Africa had 53% of possession and more short corners than India, but only converted two of their 17 shots at goal. That included a penalty stroke, which would have closed the gap to 2-3, being wasted.

South Africa did grab a second goal when Connor Beauchamp’s excellent penalty corner flick gave him his first international goal in the 53^rd minute.

The match was almost a repeat though of South Africa’s 6-2 loss to the Netherlands the previous night when they were 2-1 down but a penalty stroke was again not converted, the Dutch scoring soon after to go 3-1 up at the halftime break. They did not look back.

South Africa’s second game in the FIH Hockey Pro League in Potchefstroom saw them once again come undone as they were hammered 10-2 by a fast and skilful India side who were relentless in the first half.

India powered into an 8-0 lead at halftime with four goals in each quarter, their short-corner work being particularly clinical, Jugraj Singh scoring a hat-trick from the set-piece.

The pace at which they played clearly rattled the South Africans, who struggled to match the ball-speed and inevitably made basic mistakes or gave the possession away through poor passes. They also lacked composure in defence, with India earning a short corner with just about every circle-entry in the early stages of the match.

South Africa began the second half in much better fashion, keeping India in their own territory with much better ball-retention and earning a couple of short-corners which were well-saved by goalkeeper PR Sreejesh. India’s brilliant counter-attacking skills then came to the fore as they broke out of their cell and swiftly stormed downfield, Gursahibjit Singh scoring with an excellent angled finish.

South Africa were 9-0 down but they provided some hope with a strong performance in the second half, producing patches of attractive hockey.

Daniel Bell found the box with a low short-corner flick in the 44^th minute and Richard Pautz punched home early in the final quarter, after good build-up by Tyson Dlungwana down the left flank and neat touches by Dayaan Cassiem and Bili Ntuli.

India had the final say though, two minutes before the end as Dilpreet Singh broke free and fired a superb shot into goal from the top of the circle.

“We did not start the way we wanted,” Bell admitted, “we struggled to get into our rhythm in the first half. We wanted a more competitive game and we need to keep them out better.

“In the second half there was a big change, we started to play some hockey and show our flair.”

“The first half was not a true reflection of our ability,” Pautz said. “We had a very slow start and our mindset was off. But a 2-2 draw in the second half shows our capability.

“That’s what we should be doing consistently and we need to be more clinical in the circle.”