Damons nets in 150th match as African Champions power to 4-1 victory
Sulette Damons marked her 150th international match with a brilliant back-hand strike as South Africa ended England’s dreams of winning the Rabobank Hockey World Cup by taking a 4-1 victory in the GreenFields Stadium. Goals from Kathleen Taylor, Damons, Shelley Russell and Dirkie Chamberlain gave the world number 11 ranked team a stunning four goal lead against a side that sits eight places above them in the FIH World Rankings, with England’s solitary strike coming from the stick of Nicola White 15 minutes from time. The result leaves England rooted to the bottom of Pool B, while South Africa claimed their first points of the tournament.
Both teams came into the match on the back of successive defeats, so were well aware that a slip up in this contest would end any hopes of winning a medal here in The Hague. England starting their campaign with unexpected losses against the lower-ranked USA (FIH World Ranking: 10) and China (7), while South Africa were defeated by two Continental Champions, PanAm Cup winners Argentina (2) and EuroHockey Nations Gold medallists Germany (6).
The opening stages went very much in line with the rankings, as the fired-up England girls set about the task of putting their World Cup challenge back on track. The South African back line soaked up plenty of English pressure, with legendary striker Pietee Coetzee proving herself a fabulously useful addition to the defence by making some important tackles as well a number of visionary passes throughout the contest.
England looked the team most likely to open the scoring, with Sophie Bray cracking a backhand strike over the cross-bar after impressive build-up play from rising star Lily Owsley before the European Silver medallists had a goal correctly ruled out for an infringement.
South Africa grew in confidence as the half progressed and almost opened the scoring when Sulette Damons came within an inch of touching home a defence splitting pass from quicksilver winger Bernie Coston. It proved to be very much a sign of things to come, as South Africa brutally punished two defensive errors from England to take a 2-0 advantage at the break. Kathleen Taylor tapped in from close range in the 18th minute when the England defenders failed to deal effectively with a cross from the left, before Sulette Damons robbed Hollie Webb and crashed a blistering back-hand strike just inside the left post three minutes before half time.
Things went from bad to worse for England in the second period, with South Africa’s Shelley Russell making it 3-0 in the 40th minute moments after England captain Kate Richardson-Walsh was ‘sin-binned’ for a green card offence. A South Africa win became a virtual certainty in the 52nd minute when Dirkie Chamberlain produced a delightful chipped finish to take the score to 4-0, although Nicola White gave England a glimmer of hope with a powerful strike 15 minutes from time. However, it proved to be too little too late, as South Africa ran down the clock to claim their first points of the Rabobank Hockey World Cup while the heartbroken England team left the field clearly hurting in the knowledge that their World Cup dream was over.
“It’s always a good game when we play England, both teams have got a lot of experience so it is always a good game but we loved it today”, said thrilled South Africa goal-scorer Shelley Russell immediately after the match. “We’ve had a lot of frustration not scoring, but once we broke the ice I don’t think anyone was going to stop us. This is what we have been wanting to do all tournament.”
“I’m very angry and very disappointed”, said a visibly emotional England captain Kate Richardson-Walsh. “We don’t make the sacrifices we do and train as hard as we do for performances like that or the performances we have had in the last few games. I’m just devastated, really. There are a lot of girls back home who would love to be standing where we are, and we need to go out and prove to them and ourselves that we are worthy of wearing the shirt.”