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Rassie's Diary

8 March 2010

Day 7:

Today is a rest for us as there will be some big clashes in the other pool. Korea vs Canada, Argentina vs New Zealand and Germany vs Holland.

Short corner practice was the call for the morning while I was spending some more time with the physio making sure that my Achilles will be strong enough for our next clash against India.

We had the rest of the Sunday afternoon off, with some of the lads spending some time with their feet up and some doing some sightseeing.

Paul Blake and Lloyd Norris-Jones visited one of the famous parks today and some how got involved in one of the 600 cricket games that was going on.

Here is Blakey's "Match Report":

The Indian people are world renowned for their love affair with cricket. On our frequent trips to the stadium it is difficult not to notice the abundant games of cricket going on in the parks alongside the road. Lloyd Norris-Jones and I went to see if we could find our way into a starting eleven and maybe get a bat or a bowl.

After taking in the famous India Gate we made our way into one of the nearby parks. There must have been at least twenty games of cricket taking place in an area not much bigger than a normal full size cricket field. At first it seemed like absolute chaos with fielders, stumps and pitches everywhere but this was far from the truth. After observing for a few minutes it was clear that each game had its own umpire, scorer and �field�. The various trees in the park marked the boundaries. Despite all the matches overflowing into one another everyone seemed to know exactly what was going on. The one major drawback to batting in this environment was that any fielder (not matter what game they were involved with) was allowed to field the ball. This made shot and run selection very difficult!

It was not long before we were invited to have a bat. This immediately attracted a lot of attention and within minutes there was more of a crowd than a slip cordon! After a few wild swings I managed to crack one out of the middle and according to the umpire on duty it had crossed the boundary and I picked up four runs! Lloyd came in next and being renowned for his big hitting at school level he tried to prove to the gathering crowd that he could easily clear the furthest tree in the park! Lloyd took guard and then proceeded to charge down the wicket and try and hit the ball into the middle of next week! In his excitement he took his eye off the ball for a split second and top edged the heavy ball into his face. This brought the game to an abrupt halt. There was much concern shown and it was not long before we were hurrying back to the hotel in search of ice.

What an experience!

Cheers,

Rassie

Day 6:

Today was a big game for us to bounce back after our poor performance after the Aussie game. Everybody knew exactly how big the task is going to be as we have never beaten Pakistan at the previous World Cups before.

A lot of individual video clips were watched through the day. I spent quite a bit of time studying Sohail Abbas's drag flicking technique because he can be any keepers nightmare on the day.

It was yet again a nice crowd for our 18:30 game. We had massive support from the Indian fans, I wasn't sure if it was because we were the underdogs or if it was because India will support any team besides their arch rivals from next door.

Half time score was 1-0 to Pakistan after we have defended our penalty corners well. In the second half we opened our tele... and it was in a phase of 15 minutes that we scored 4 cracker goals. Pakistan were chasing the game but our lads did well in making sure we defended our 4 goals.

It was a great feeling for the guys to bounce back.

We are playing India in our next game and it is a must win game for us to make sure that we are playing for the 7th spot. A 7th place finish will help our world rankings tremendously, so we have to give it our all.

Cheers,

Rassie

Day 5:

The day started with our normal routine... run and stretch followed by breakfast.

Serious team talks and analysis started early in the day preparing for our game against a top Aussie team.

The call was for me to take a rest in the stands today. I will be receiving some more treatment from our physio to make sure that I will be strong for the last three games of the tournament.

We started off well in the game forcing the first penalty corner but it was ran down by the Aussies' first wave. It was after 25 minutes into the game that we got things horribly wrong. This game was any player's nightmare. With soft turnovers and bad decision making from us, the boys from Down Under taught us a hockey lesson. It was painful to watch from the side.

We will however lift our heads and regroup.

We now need to turn our attention to Pakistan and India. Nothing less than victories will be good enough to reach the top 8 in the World.

England vs Pakistan was a fast and vigorous game. England had the better of Pakistan after Jonty Clark scored an amazing deflection goal, diving full stretch deflecting the ball into the roof of the net.

A big shout out must go to Richard Mantell. While defending a penalty corner late into the game, one of the Pakistani players ran in for a deflection colliding with Richard on the keeper's near post. He landed on top of Mantell's leg and without a doubt you could see that this was a serious injury to his ankle. It was not nice to see the slow-mo replays of the incident.

I wish Richard a speedy recovery and we all know that he will be a big loss for the English team.

Cheers,

Rassie

Day 4.

Today is our rest day.

You can see that our Physio's (Pierre Kruger aka Freddy) room is getting busier and busier. I also had to pay him a visit, I snapped my Achilles tendon last year October so I still have to have aggressive treatment everyday to keep me going.

After physio me and Brenden Botes hit the road to go and visit Sarojini Nagar Market and the Akshardham Temple. The market was interesting... Here you can buy anything from a pineapple right through to a pair of Armani jeans. Of course there are no prices on any items... everything is negotiable in India.

The Akshardham Temple was with out a doubt the highlight of our day trip. It is a massive construction with the whole Temple carved out of sand stone... without a doubt one of the most beautiful things I have seen in my life. The Commonwealth Games athletes village are also situated right next to the temple. You can see they are pushing hard to finish the village before the Commonwealth Games start in October later this year.

The most bizarre thing happened with our Tuk-Tuk taxi trip back to the hotel... After breaking down a couple of times we spotted 2 massive elephants on the highway blocking 2 of the 4 lanes transporting wood. I couldn't believe my eyes! Only in India...

The rest of the evening was spent by having supper (another good curry) and a video session that followed for our preparation for the next game

Cheers,

Rassie

The South African World Cup Squad - sponsored by TK.

Day 3.

The day started with our normal routine, run and stretch and breakfast after that.

It is another scorching hot day in Delhi so it was important to get as much fluids on board as possible before our game at 16:30.

A lot of preparation for the game against England was done through the day.

Arriving exactly 1 hour before our game at the field it seems like the security has doubled. It took a bit longer today to get from the bus to our change room. They have decided to search every players bag before entering the stadium. Trust me it is a flipping pain unpacking my TK goalie bag and going through all my equipment and repacking it again!

Our game started with a lot of basic mistakes from both sides but it was not long before some great hockey was played.

It was an even first half with the half time score at 2-2.

In the changing room some new tactics were discussed for the second half followed by one or two motivational words from Rhett Halket to get the SA boys fired up.

Soft turnovers cost us and England hurt us with 3 good tap in goals on the far post. Richard Mantell from England was also on form today at the PC's as he put his second corner goal past me and my post man.

We fought proudly back in the end scoring two more goals in the last 10 minutes but the 2 goal difference was just to big to catch. Final score 6-4 to England.

It was a quiet bus trip back to the hotel. The lads had a quick shower and supper. Some of us left for the field to go and watch the India vs Aussie game.

My folks are in the stands so I snuck myself through some of the security checks to get to the public stands. What a experience sitting in the stands with a packed Indian crowd. The atmosphere was electrifying. The Indian crowd was pumped watching their team again after their brilliant performance against Pakistan.

Unfortunately for the Indian fans Australia scored the first goal very early in the game. The Aussies was solid after their defeat the other night against England. They took the game away from a charging Indian team. Final score 5-2 for Australia.

Tomorrow is a rest day for us. A corner practise is scheduled for us in the morning after breakfast and then it will be feet up for the rest of the day.

Cheers,

Rassie

Day 2:

Today was a rest day for us as pool A's games are kicking off this afternoon at 16:30.

Canada vs New Zealand

Germany vs Korea

Argentina vs Holland.

With some tired bodies we got out of bed and went straight for a run and stretch on the old tennis court of the hotel. We tucked into the buffet breakfast and after that slowly made our way back to our comfy beds.

Of course the "rest day" kicked of some serious video analysis of our Spain game from the day before. It was quite tough to see all the chances and miss opportunities that we had. After kicking that game into touch we started preparing for our next game against England.

England has been playing very good hockey over the last couple of months so extra attention will have to be given to this well gelled English side.

After lunch some boys decided to take on some Tuk-Tuk taxis and went for some site seeing. Today was a public holiday in India so surprisingly there was not much traffic and noisy car hooters in the back ground. The parks was filled with people celebrating Happy Holidays...

Hundreds of kids setting up their own cricket games with wickets and even slip fielders was to see everywhere. The game cricket here is not just a game but a religion...

It is so weird to think that such a peaceful country can have so many security issues.

We had a nice relaxing evening watching all the other pool games live on TenSport (Indian sport channel).

Tomorrow will be more intense as Pool B, known as "the pool of death" will play their second matches of the Hero Honda World Cup.

Cheers,

Rassie

Day 1:

Besides all security issues and bomb threats, the Indian public has welcomed all 12 hockey nations with opens arms.

All the teams and officials are staying in the Le Meridien Hotel ( 5-10 min drive from the stadium). It is quite festive by having the 5 star hotel just for the hockey fraternity.

Day 1 one kicked of with bang. SA vs Spain was the fist fixture of day.

Arriving at the stadium was like entering Heathrow Airport...metal detectors, 17 000 police officers and military forces surrounding the stadium. The 16 000 seater stadium is truly a monument and without a doubt the best hockey facility I have ever come across. This stadium is truly the "Lords" of hockey stadiums.

Dropping our bags in the changing room and just walking onto the field through the tunnel to embrace the atmosphere, a half packed stadium greeted the players with a big roar. For a player this gives you goosebumps down your spine.

The first whistle of the the Hero Honda World Cup was blown and the fast paced game kicked off. Pressure from both teams early in the game made for quite exiting hockey for the crowd.

The 'underdog' SA team scored the first goal of the world cup with Julian Hykes scoring "the goal of the day". Spain attacked back immediately with some counters. Spain equalized from a back hand from Pablo Amat that I saved but the rebound was put away by a diving Spanish player. It was quite a even 1st half with sores level 2-2 half time.

Spain came out flying in the second half and made it difficult for our defenders with their pace and flair up front. A controversial goal was scored by Spain and the video umpire was called for SA. Unfortunately for the Saffa team the umpire's first decision stood. The score was 3-1. The gutsy SA team kept on fighting back but Spanish keeper, Francisco Cortes did a good job for Spain keeping them in the game. With 8 minutes to go Spain were awarded their second penalty corner of the day. Pau Qeumada put a screamer of a drag flick past my stick into the top corner.

Final result 4-2.

The first upset of the tournament was England beating Australia 3-2. The stats were all for the mighty Aussies but England fought out 12 penalty corners and showed some hunger for victory by putting away their chances.

And then the main game of the day, India vs Pakistan.

It was an epic battle. The stadium was packed and the noise and atmosphere was unbelievable. The Indian team charging with adrenalin and 16 000 fans cheering them on beat the higher ranked Pakistan team 4-1.

Today pool B will kick off. NZ vs Canada, Germany vs Spain and Holland vs Argentina.

Cheers,

Rassie