Bronze medal goes to England, adoration goes to SA

Beating England in the bronze medal playoff proved to be a step too far for the South African men’s hockey team as their Commonwealth Games campaign came to an end with a 6-3 defeat in Birmingham.

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The hefty margin of defeat was a harsh one considering how close the match actually was, however – some ill discipline at the end costing them as they conceded two goals in the final 10 minutes.

The South Africans were awarded the first penalty corner of the game but were unable to capitalise in an opening period where both teams had their chances. The SA defence did well to keep England at bay and goalkeeper Gowan Jones was again in excellent form – first producing a great save off an England penalty corner and then 30 seconds later in open play to ensure the score remained 0-0 by the end of the first quarter.

South Africa earned a penalty corner early in second period and this time they made it count, Matthew Guise-Brown firing in with a drag flick.

Less than a minute later, England struck back, however, with Rhys Smith finding the equaliser.

The South Africans then produced a well-worked goal, taking their time to set it up and Mustapha Cassiem taking the shot to make it 2-1.

But sure enough, the English came back at them immediately, Liam Ansell firing in from just inside the circle two minutes later and Jones having no chance of stopping it.

With just over five minutes to go in the half, England struck again – this time off a penalty corner to take a 3-2 lead.

Having blasted the ball over the goal previously, the South Africans had another chance to equalise off a penalty corner and Nqobile Ntuli did the business, finding the back of the net to level things up at 3-3 heading into halftime.

After six goals had been scored in the space of 15 minutes, the third quarter was a more measured affair, with England slowing the tempo right down. Jones made another two excellent saves off a penalty corner but Phillip Roper fired in off the rebound to put the home side back in front.

When Roper squeezed in another after a goalmouth scramble with 10 minutes to play, it appeared the bronze was rapidly slipping further from the South Africans’ reach – indiscipline costing the SA side as they played large periods with 10 and sometimes nine men.

England’s sixth goal came off a penalty stroke, making it 6-3 to secure a third consecutive Commonwealth Games bronze.

“I don’t know if I can find the words but this one is going to hurt for a long time,” admitted goalscorer Mustapha Cassiem afterwards. “We went into the game knowing that England are strong and playing against the home crowd is always tough, but the boys left everything out there – as cliché as it sounds – we tried our best, we fought hard and credit to the boys again for putting up a fight.”

Captain Tim Drummond agreed that the score did not provide an accurate reflection of the game.

“Unfortunately the result is what it is but that score doesn’t show the fight and the commitment and the desire to try and get a positive result. But I’m just exceptionally proud of the whole group and how far we’ve come since February when we were losing by some big numbers to these top-ranked teams so we’ve taken a lot of positives out of this and we’re going to make sure we use this momentum going into the World Cup,” he said.

Speaking about the indiscipline that crept in towards the end of the game, he explained: “It’s something we have worked on and have improved but I think it was a combination of pure passion and fatigue and just really trying to get the result and that happens in pressurised moments.”

A fourth place may not be what they came to Birmingham for, but the SA team can nevertheless be exceedingly proud, having reached their first Commonwealth Games semifinal in 20 years.

“We have to make sure we keep putting in performances like this and hopefully win a medal one day,” said Drummond. “We’ve received a huge amount of support from back home and a lot of people have got joy out of our performances and the way that we played and that’s one of our big outcomes – putting smiles on people’s faces back home because there are a lot of people going through some tough times and if one person watches one of our games and it puts a smile on their face then it’s a job well done for us,” said Drummond, who is hopeful the team’s performances might also have drawn the attention of potential sponsors.

“I’m proud of the guys to know where we are and where we can go from here,” said coach Garreth Ewing. “We’re going to carry on playing front-foot hockey and carry on being attacking – that’s what we’re good at – and carry on building from here.”

After a hard-earned cold brew, which Drummond admitted he was looking forward to, the SA team will certainly be heading to their next big assignments – the Nations Cup at home in Potchefstroom at the end of the year and then the World Cup in India in January next year – with renewed momentum.