South Africa

Striker Pietie Coetzee was in devastating form with a hat-trick when South Africa's hockey women drilled New Zealand 3-0 in a friendly warm-up match at the seaside Hellenicon Olympic Complex in Athens on Friday.


Cautious of reading too much into an Olympic friendly, coach Ros Howell said she was happy with "most" of the team's performance.

"Pietie was superb out there," she said. "She is truly world class. But we gave away too many short corners, and I'm not happy about that at all."

Despite giving the short corner count away 9-3, the South African defence held firm with both 'keepers, Caroline Birt and Smurfie Engelbrecht, rock solid and sharp with saving reflexes in the box.

The South Africans held up superbly after a gruelling day of travelling. Their bus lost its way to training in the morning, then it was a rush across the city to be kitted out by adidas, another dash back to the Olympic Village with 20 minutes to spare before the bus departed for Hellenicon.

"It was a hectic Friday," said Ross. "They held up well under pretty gruelling circumstances, especially considering that we have come from a cold South Africa of four degrees to above 30 degrees heat here."

Ross said she was also happy with Pholo Tsoanelo, the non-travelling reserve who was called in at the 11th hour to replace Bronwyn Ross who sprained her ankle during training in Pretoria on Sunday.

"Fiona (Butler) was also comfortable out there," she said of the defender who is recovering from an operation to fix a broken finger.

"Other than the amount of short corners we gave away, I was happy, but we must not read too much into a friendly like this. We'll get a better idea of our form in our friendly against Spain next Thursday. The game will rise a level for that."

Coetzee opened the score in the 12th minute when she took on two New Zealand defenders inside the circle, cut infield, then hit a reverse stick shot solidly past 'keeper Beth Jurgeleit.

The New Zealanders pushed hard to equalise, forcing three short-corners in the first half that were well covered by Birt.

But Coetzee struck again after linking with veteran midfielder Kerry Bee. The sturdy striker beat two defenders down the left, cut into the ring and blasted a long range shot against the board.

Pholo linked well with Coetzee and had a good go at goal on one occasion, but was weak with a short corner-take to Coetzee just before half-time.

Eight minutes into the second half the New Zealanders tried once again to penetrate the South African defence from a short corner — this time a deceptive shot by Jaimee Proven that was well-saved by Engelbrecht. They got the ball down the midfield where Sharne Wehmeyer put through a quick pass to Coetzee, who made no mistake to complete her hat-trick.

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