Blake Govers' hattrick keeps Kookaburras' title defence alive

*This match report has been updated to reflect a change in goalscorer by the FIH. Nathan Ephraums has been awarded the Kookaburras first goal following video review.

A sensational second-half hattrick from Blake Govers has kept the Kookaburras’ FIH Pro League title defence alive, as Australia clawed their way back from a two-goal deficit to stun England 4-3 in front of a packed London crowd.

It was a match that certainly lived up to the classic Australia-England rivalry, delivering with fierce intensity, end-to-end hockey, and a dramatic turnaround powered by one of the Kookaburras’ biggest stars to remain unbeaten in Europe.

"It was crazy! We were trying to expand our horizons with how we're playing. We've been playing this really attacking form of hockey that we've been really good at, and enjoying, but we wanted to experiment, especially against England," Davis Atkin said post-match.

"It didn't work out as planned initially, but we stuck it out and came back to our core values about what we wanted to do as a team, and we came out as winners."

It capped a special night for Tasmania’s Jack Welch, who celebrated his 50th cap, and teammate Davis Atkin, one of Australia's openly gay athletes, as the Kookaburras delivered a memorable performance in rainbow socks on a day dedicated to celebrating diversity and inclusion.

"I said to the boys this morning that I just really appreciate everyone being as inclusive as they are, and this was as simple as wearing socks, but I'm able to flourish as much as I can," Davis added.

"If I had grown up and seen my heroes run out in rainbow socks, that would have been immense, showing me that people at the top level are like me, and it paves the way for other people to follow that journey as a high-performance athlete.

"It's hard to describe the feeling. I had this nervous, anxious feeling of butterflies before the match, that this really means something to me. It means something to so many people. Seeing lots of pride flags out there showed it really is an inclusive environment, and I just loved it. I almost cried at the end."

The Kookaburras struck first through the Victorian duo of Nathan Ephraums, and rising star Cooper Burns, who fired a powerful shot from the top of the circle which was deftly tapped in by Ephraums in the fourth minute. 

But England responded swiftly, levelling the scores and then dominating a second quarter that saw them pile on the pressure and convert twice more, with a debut goal from Henry Croft and a penalty corner finish from Sam Hooper, to take a 3-1 lead into halftime.

The Kookaburras had had seven penalty corners in the first half, with nothing to show for it, as they struggled to penetrate through England’s defensive wall. 

That changed after the break.

Prolific goal scorer Blake Govers launched his attack, converting Australia’s eighth penalty corner midway through the third quarter to cut the deficit to one and reignite the fightback.

In the final quarter, the pressure was on, and Govers proved unstoppable. Just minutes in, he slammed home a trademark dragflick to draw the scores level, marking his eighth goal in just seven matches against England. 

Then, in a moment of brilliance, he dove to deflect a perfectly delivered ball from Jack Welch to complete his hat-trick and hand Australia a 4-3 lead, all within a frantic two-minute spell, pulling off a deserving Player of the Match performance.

"England at home is always a tough match, they really stuck it to us in the first half! We were lucky to bounce back and get those goals in the second half," Blake Govers told 7plus.

"The goals were team goals! Someone has to get the corners, and I'm just on the back end of great team play, but very happy to have done the job and gotten those in."

"I think we've all been quite surprised at how smooth it's been to blend back together [since having players re-join in Europe]," Davis added. 

"We came in with a vision to be a free-attacking team, and that's what Mark Hager and the coaches wanted, for us to individually perform, and then we trusted collectively that we would work in unison.

"This tour has been a really good opportunity to explore different strengths and fill in weaknesses that potentially might be there. It's been a really good environment to thrive and try new things."

The Kookaburras can defend the FIH Pro League title if they win their remaining three matches against England and Germany. 

Game two against England gets underway tonight at 9.30pm AWST / 13.30pm AEST, live and free on 7plus.

"We're going to be ready. The fact we've been able to back games up is really key, sometimes we win and we don't hold that streak, and we're on a really good grind to keep it up."

Full FIH Pro League fixtures & results

Kookaburras v England
Kookaburras: 4 (Nathan Ephraums 4" (FG), Blake Govers 39", 46" & 47" (PC & PC & FG))
England: 3 (Zachary Wallace 13" (FG), Henry Croft 24" (FG), Sam Hooper 30" (PC))
Lee Valley Hockey Centre, London
  
Kookaburras: 2. Tom Craig, 5. Cooper Burns, 6. Anand Gupte, 7. Nathan Ephraums, 10. Josh Beltz, 12. Jed Snowden (gk), 13. Blake Govers, 16. Tim Howard, 17. Tom Harvie, 19. Craig Marais, 20. Ky Willott, 21. Jack Welch, 23. Hayden Beltz, 25. Nathan Czinner, 28. Ash Thomas (gk), 29. Tim Brand (c), 32. Jeremy Hayward, 48. Davis Atkin
Kookaburras FIH Pro League UK/Europe Tour Schedule

London, England
Sunday, June 22 – 11.30pm AEST / 9.30pm AWST - England v Kookaburras

Berlin, Germany
Wednesday, June 25 – 3.30am AEST / 1.30am AWST – Germany v Kookaburras
Thursday, June 26 - 3.30am AEST / 1.30am AWST – Germany v Kookaburras