Kookaburras send early statement with rout of France
Published Fri 13 Jan 2023
It was the Tom and Jerry show at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar as the Kookaburras opened their 2023 World Cup campaign with an 8-0 demolition of France.
Tom Craig and Jeremy Hayward both scored hat-tricks, while Flynn Ogilvie and Tom Wickham also found the back of the net as the Kookaburras made a great start to the tournament.
With the Kookaburras wearing black armbands in memory of former Kookaburra and Australian hockey great Brian Glencross who died last week, an upright reverse effort from Craig signalled the Australians’ intent and set off early alarm bells for France.
The Kookaburras were forced to survive some nervy moments before Craig scored his first in the 9th minute when he started and finished a move, feeding the ball to Tim Brand from the edge of the circle before getting it back and producing an expert touch to beat France goalkeeper Arthur Thieffry.
Hayward had a drag flick saved by Thieffry and the goalkeeper then managed to keep out the rebound from Nathan Ephraums to prevent the Kookaburras from quickly doubling the advantage.
Andrew Charter was called into action at the other end when pulled off a sharp reflex save from a reverse shot by Viktor Lockwood with seven minutes to go until half time.
A flurry of three Kookaburras goals in quick succession just before half time then blew the game open.
First, persistence from Ogilvie saw him breach France’s defences at the second time of asking before Hayward struck twice within two minutes to put the Kookaburras in a commanding position.
The Kookaburras were clinical, capitalising on four of their six shots on goal in the opening half.
Craig had his second goal two minutes after the resumption and when another rocket drag flick from Hayward made it 6-0 in the 39th minute to bring up his hat-trick, France were well and truly on the ropes.
The Kookaburras continued to threaten and Craig joined the hat-trick club with another well executed finish in the shadows of three quarter time.
Wickham rounded off the comprehensive result when he scooped the ball home on the reverse in the 54th minute.
“I felt pretty good but more importantly the team performed well…we’re a proud group and I’d like to acknowledge Brian Glencross and his family back in Perth. We’re proud of our Kookaburras history so this one was for them,” said Craig who was named Player of the Match.
“We were raring to go today. We haven’t played tournament hockey since July so we have prepared well for the World Cup, prepared well for our first game against France and that showed.”
The Kookaburras’ attention now turns to what is expected to be a much sterner test against 2016 Olympic gold medallists Argentina on Monday night local time. Argentina defeated South Africa 1-0 in their opening Pool A match.
Match Details
Kookaburras 8 (Craig 9’/32’/45’, Ogilvie 27’, Hayward 27’/29’/39’, Wickham 54’)
France 0
@ Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar
Kookaburras: 1.Lachlan Sharp, 2.Tom Craig, 4.Jake Harvie, 5.Tom Wickham, 6.Matthew Dawson, 7.Nathan Ephraums, 8.Johan Durst (gk), 10.Josh Beltz, 11.Eddie Ockenden (c), 12.Jake Whetton, 16.Tim Howard, 17.Aran Zalewski, 22.Flynn Ogilvie, 23.Daniel Beale, 29.Tim Brand, 30.Andrew Charter (gk), 32.Jeremy Hayward
Unused substitute: 13.Blake Govers
Kookaburras Pool Matches - FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023
Kookaburras v France
13 January 2023 (3.00pm local time, 8.30pm AEDT)
Argentina v Kookaburras
16 January 2023, (7.00pm local time, 12.30am AEDT 17 January)
Kookaburras v South Africa
20 January 2023, (1.00pm local time, 6.30pm AEDT)
More information on the tournament can be found on the FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 website.
