Brave South Africa look to bridge gap against Dutch hockey giants in Cape Town

South African men’s hockey team co-captain Sam Mvimbi stressed the importance of a strong start in Friday's second and final international against the Netherlands, after the visiting Olympic and Pro League champions put five past the hosts in the opening match at a packed Hartleyvale Stadium in Cape Town on Wednesday night.     

The slick, classy Dutch led 3-0 at the break but the South Africans more than held their own in the third quarter of a physical encounter before the world No 1 closed out the match in fine style.

Mvimbi was keen to take the positives out of the team's impressive second-half showing, despite being unable to make their mark on the scoreboard, as they search for areas to improve on ahead of Friday's encounter at the same venue. 

"It was sort of a game of two halves for us. They came out firing and we weren't really there during the first 30 minutes, but I think we responded quite well in the second half. Pretty disappointed with the start but we can work on this and hopefully we come out a little better in the first half on Friday," Mvimbi said.

The two-match series is the second in a row for coach Devon ven der Merwe's African champions against quality opposition, after India sealed a 2-0 series victory on SA soil last month. Both series form a crucial part of the SA team's build-up to the FIH Hockey World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium later this year where the Dutch will be among the favourites.

"I think we have a nice young group, a brave and bold group, and that's what we have to be. We realise we're not going to get the same (World Cup) prep as most teams, but at the end of the day it's about us being proud of our team and what we can do on the day," said SA co-captain Keenan Horne. 

The two sides meet again on Friday at 3pm in the second and final match of the series.