Black Sticks defend Nations Cup title with 6-2 victory over Pakistan
The Black Sticks men have successfully defended the FIH Nations Cup title after beating Pakistan 6-2 in the final in Malaysia yesterday.
New Zealand, who won last year's Nations Cup in Poland, led 5-0 after a stunning first half which included three goals in three minutes.
Played in a packed
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Newsroom
2 hours ago
- Newsroom
A shot at medicine leads to a shot in the Black Sticks
Early in the new year, Nina Murphy made a snap decision that would change the course of her life – in more ways than one. The teenager had a sudden change of heart, ditching her plans to go to university in Brisbane, and choosing to cross the Tasman to Dunedin to pursue her dream to study medicine. Within six months, the promising hockey player – who'd been training in an Australian future squad with an eye to the 2032 Brisbane Olympics – shocked even herself by landing in the Black Sticks. Although the 19-year-old was born and raised on Australia's east coast, her allegiance has always been clear. With two Kiwi parents, Murphy was a self-declared New Zealander from the start, so pulling on the black dress to play the United States in North Carolina this week won't feel strange. 'As a little kid – and I was quite a cocky little kid – I'd always tell people 'I want to play for the Black Sticks',' she says. 'I think it may have been out of spite. I was the only daughter [of four] born in Australia, and maybe I wanted to show them I was actually the true New Zealander. If we went to an All Blacks-Wallabies game, I'd always go for the All Blacks. 'There's a photo of me at the 2022 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, when the Kookaburras were playing the Black Sticks men in the final – I was head-to-toe in black and white. Whenever I come to New Zealand, I always feel so at home. 'So you can see I'm super stoked to be playing for New Zealand – and I don't think it's going to be weird at all.' Murphy, an attacking midfielder, is the only debutant in the Black Sticks (ranked 10th in the world), who'll play five matches against the world No.14 Americans, at the start of their road to next year's World Cup. She caught the eye of Black Sticks coach Phil Burrows with her stand-out performance at the Junior Hockey League in Auckland in April, playing for the Alpiners, and named MVP of the U21 tournament. Nina Murphy playing for Queensland U18s. Photo: supplied She was sitting her exams in her health sciences first year course, when she got the call from Burrows. 'He said, 'You're coming to the USA',' she recalls. 'I was focusing on so many things at once, it was crazy. 'The main thing he wanted to stress to me is that I deserve to be there. He probably thought I'd be like, 'This is a bit sudden, do I deserve to be here? Is this a rushed decision?' But he definitely made me feel like he was picking me on my talent, after seeing me play in the Junior Hockey League.' And Burrows has made it clear Murphy won't be just warming the bench in Charlotte over the next 12 days. 'Nina brings explosive speed, sharp technical skill, and a fearless attacking mindset – she's set to make a serious impact in her debut,' he says. Those talents had already put her on the radar for future international honours in Australia. It's just the Black Sticks beat them to it. Murphy started playing hockey at six, at the Casuarina club on the north coast of New South Wales. She and some school mates at Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School were trying to figure out what sport to play. Where it all began: Nina Murphy's first season of hockey at the NSW Casuarina club. Photo: supplied 'One mum suggested we should get into netball, then another mum said, 'Nah, let's do hockey',' Murphy says. 'It was a bit of a hockey school, although the sport wasn't really that popular where we lived. In senior school, I was one of the only kids in my grade who played hockey. A lot of the girls in our school team didn't want to play sport, but they just had to choose one. 'I played other sports – a bit of rugby, football and touch. But hockey always seemed to work a little better for me.' After her family moved to the Gold Coast, Murphy played her way right through the Queensland age groups – as well as in indoor hockey. Last year she was selected by former Black Sticks coach Mark Hager for Australia's National Future Squad, looking ahead to the next generation of Hockeyroos for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. 'It was awesome to get that acknowledgement. It meant training with the Queensland Academy of Sport up in Brisbane, which was so good for my hockey,' Murphy says. 'But it was an hour-and-a-half drive to Brisbane four days a week, sometimes after school. 'So when I got to New Zealand, the hockey here just got me excited for it all over again. The change has been good. 'Everything else was so new to me – going to uni, living in a hall, in a different country. But the one thing that was constant was hockey, and I could rely on it and just enjoy it.' Murphy is proud of her Māori whakapapa – her iwi Te Aitanga ā Māhaki, her hapū Te Whānau a Taupara. In 2023 she played in the NZ Māori hockey tournament for Tairāwhiti Wāhine Hinehakirirangi. 'That tournament really helped me become more immersed [in Māoritanga]. I was worried I'd feel like an outsider, but it was such a great experience. I'll definitely play it again this year.' Nina Murphy can now spend more time with her Kiwi grandmother, Dot Finnigan. Photo: Chris Hancock It was during a visit to whānau, and her marae, Takipu, inland from Gisborne, last summer that she decided to move to New Zealand. She had planned to go to Brisbane to study physiotherapy or radiography, and play hockey, this year. 'I had it all sorted, with a place to live with a few of my school mates,' she says. 'But when I came over here, family were asking what my plan was, and I realised I wasn't that passionate about it. On the last day of an amazing holiday, my cousin's boyfriend was talking about his awesome experience studying medicine at Otago. I hadn't thought about that option, but suddenly – in a 20-second period – my whole life changed. 'It was like a huge door opened for me. I didn't get much sleep that night, I was applying for Health Sci and starting my application for halls in Dunedin.' It made sense for Murphy – whose parents, Reta and Paul ('childhood sweethearts'), both studied at Otago. 'They loved the Dunedin lifestyle, so that helped reassure me,' Murphy says. 'I've heard some crazy stories about how competitive health science at Otago is, people burn each other's notes, or set alarms in people's buildings so they wake up the night before an exam. I'm very grateful I've had no experiences like that.' She hopes to study medicine next year. She's playing club hockey for the Kings United club in Dunedin, and says the experience has been different. 'I can't put a word on why it's different, but it just is – and not in a bad way. The people are all really friendly here,' she says. 'When I went to play in the Junior Hockey League and I knew no one, I didn't feel like a stranger.' Murphy is likely to play for another New Zealand team this year, selected in the squad working towards the Junior World Cup in Chile in December. 'It's always been a goal of mine to play at the Junior World Cup, so hopefully I'll be lucky enough to go,' she says. Has she allowed herself to look ahead to next year's World Cup, or future Olympics? 'This is all just so new for me, I feel like I want to own my place first,' she says. 'I really want to play the best I can to make sure Phil knows he made the right choice, before I think about the Olympics. My goal was to make the Junior World Cup… so maybe my goals might need a little adjusting.' The Black Sticks are using this series – three practice matches and two tests starting on Thursday – to build up to the Oceania Cup against Australia in September, where the winners earn a direct route to next year's World Cup, split between Belgium and the Netherlands.
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Hockey in the blood for silver fern family
Having one player in a senior national squad is some accomplishment. Having three brothers all wearing the silver fern over June and July is more than some effort — it is a rarity in top-level sport. The three Ward brothers, who hail from Warrington and went to King's High School, have made national senior hockey squads. Middle brother Finn made his Black Sticks debut at a tournament in Malaysia last week while his younger brother Patrick was a reserve for the team. After illness hit members of the squad he was called into the team, playing key games at the end. He made his Black Sticks debut a couple of years ago. Older brother Jordan was watching on from the stands in Malaysia. He has been named in the New Zealand A squad. Jordan, who has been close to making national squads in the past, was selected for the Hulunbuir (Moqi) Invitational Trophy, played late next month, in the far north of China, close to Mongolia. The A team is part of a new NZ Hockey strategy to expose a wider group of athletes to international match play and grow the depth of the Black Sticks men's programme. Jordan, an electrician, is living and playing in Melbourne; Finn is in Wellington, working as a teacher while Patrick is a surveying student at the University of Otago. They also have a younger sister, Zara, who is studying architecture at Otago Polytechnic. But they all hail from Otago and bleed blue and gold. Their success comes from hard work, talent, making the most of opportunities and support from their parents and friends. Patrick Ward said before the tournament started he had just followed his two older brothers, picked up a stick and got into it. Finn Ward said they had been around a hockey stick since they were little, either playing or watching. They paid tribute to their parents who helped them massively financially and got them to where they had to be in terms of trainings and games. Otago Hockey pathways manager Hymie Gill said the Ward boys were given a good schooling of hockey at King's High School through coach Dave Ross, laying the foundations. ''They are pretty much hockey rats. Just been down at the turf all the time. And they have that drive to want to be better than everyone else,'' Gill said. ''Their parents are athletic, they have a couple of uncles involved in athletics so they have the genetics thing.'' Technically they were very good and athletically were strong. They were good at multiple sports but all choose hockey. ''They were always practising their skills — doing that extra work after practice that has to be done when you are younger if you want to make it.'' He said it was something of a surprise that the youngest brother Patrick was the first to make his national senior debut but Finn had now made it and hopefully Jordan would eventually get there too. Parents Blair and Liz Ward were on the sideline in Malaysia last week and were extremely proud of their sons. Blair and Jordan were invited to see Finn's jersey presentation and a proud dad presented the shirt to his son. ''It brought a tear to my eye. All the work they have done to get there. And having Jordan there was pretty important. He was the one who really set the standards, set the work ethic, the love of playing the game. And the other boys just went from there,'' Blair said. ''They just carried it on. Finn is a talent and just wanted to to emulate Jordan. Then Patrick came along and he is just so competitive. They all love team sports. King's, Tuataras, Otago — they still keep in contact with so many of the guys they have played with. ''Jordy started it, out at Warrington, working with Wendy, who is Kane Russell's mum. Kane was the superstar they all looked up to.'' He said his sons were all incredibly driven and motivated and seeing them playing together at the higher level was a massive buzz. ''We just get out of their road, really — let them do what they can. In the final the two of them were interchanging each other so I thought they might not be on the field at the same time. But they were in the second half so that was great.''— APL
RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Hockey NZ doing their best with less money
New Zealand Black Sticks men celebrate their win at the 2025 Nations Cup in Malaysia. Photo: WORLDSPORTPICS / PHOTOSPORT After having their funding cut last year Hockey New Zealand has taken a new approach to their international programme and they're happy with the start they've made. The Black Sticks men won back to back Nations Cup tournaments with victory in Kuala Lumpur earlier this week to add to the title the Black Sticks women won earlier this year. The Nations Cup is a week long tournament for teams outside the top nine nations that play in a Pro League. With a budget of around $750,000 needed for each team, the cost of competing in the Pro League is now out of the reach of Hockey New Zealand after they had their High Performance Sport New Zealand funding slashed. Last year the women failed to qualify for the Olympics, while the men lost all of their games in Paris and as a result HPSNZ cut their funding by $1.5 million. Add to that the dropping of hockey from the reduced Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games programme and Hockey New Zealand had to reset their focus for the pinnacle events and how they would prepare for them. The immediate focus is the 2026 World Cup which will be a combined tournament in Belgium and the Netherlands. The victories in the Nations Cups was a good start according to Hockey NZ's acting CEO Ken Maplesden. "It's a good sign that we're building strength back in our programmes," Maplesden told RNZ. The Black Sticks men are assured of a place in their World Cup by virtue of Oceania rivals Australia having an automatic spot as Pro League champions. The Black Sticks women will need to beat Australia in the Oceania Cup in September or go to a qualifying tournament in early 2026 to qualify for their World Cup. Hockey New Zealand had already decided that the women wouldn't join the Pro League next season and while there is now an invitation there for the men after winning the Nations Cup it seems unlikely they would be involved either. "Ultimately our programme is geared towards the World Cup next year and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles," Maplesden said. New Zealand Black Sticks women captain Olivia Shannon talks to the team during the 2025 Nations Cup in Chile. Photo: Photosport While competing against the best in the Pro League would benefit their teams, the determining factor is the bottom line. "The balancing act here is trying to make best use of the limited resources that we have and we want to prepare ourselves to perform at those pinnacle events (the World Cup and Olympics) and what is the best way to prepare our programme for that," he said. "Obviously the absolute elite nations are playing in the Pro League but we think we can build a programme that incorporates competing and doing well at Nations Cup and also getting some top tier competition." Part of that competition plan is the domestic Premier League which has four franchise men's and women's teams and is entering it's second season. "The Premier League is essential for us as it provides a domestic opportunity for our high performance players to come together and play top quality games over a six week period and our Black Sticks players are really committed to it." Maplesden said part of their plan had been to decentralise their programme with players now basing themselves for what is best for them, both for their hockey and for their lives. The Black Sticks women have the Oceania Cup in September while Maplesden is hoping they can secure 15 to 20 internationals for both teams leading into the World Cup.
