South Africa

The South African junior women's hockey team were billed as the team to keep an eye on before the action even got underway in Pietermaritzburg at the Spar inter-provincial hockey tournament.

And on Sunday they proved they deserved the dark horse title, defeating Northerns 3-0. So even only
after day one, they've already set themselves up well for a top-four spot.

The first half started with a period of SA Juniors domination but the remainder of the 35 minutes belonged chiefly to Northerns, who earned themselves three penalty corners. These remained unconverted, however, and it was the Juniors who made the most of their opportunities. Their first goal came from a penalty corner, Marcelle Keet's shot finding the back of the net with just four minutes left in the first half.

And three minutes later a brilliant counter-attack caught the Northerns defence off guard, opening the way for a stunningly-executed goal, Megan Robertson easily slotting the ball into goal for a 2-0 lead going into the break.
A brilliant counter-attack caught the Northerns defence off guard

Robertson added another goal in the second half off a penalty corner.

Meanwhile, defending champions Western Province got their week off to a winning start, although, playing against Natal Midlands, one would have thought the margin of victory might have been larger. They nevertheless notched up a 2-0 lead by half-time, thanks to goals from Taryn Hosking and Kate Hector, while Tarryn Bright added another one in the 64th minute for a 3-0 victory.

Southern Gauteng were a little more convincing in their opening game, defeating Eastern Province 7-0. Pietie Coetzee and Dalean de Kock scored twice each for Southerns, while Nita van Jaarsveld, Fiona Butler and Marice Malan were the other goal scorers.

In other matches played on Sunday, North West defeated Witwatersrand 3-1 and KwaZulu-Natal beat Mynahs 3-0.

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