Irish women rediscover their pride against SA

One "flying mouse" and 11 Springboks secured comprehensive victories for the continent of Africa over Irish opposition at Harare's Magamba Hockey Stadium on Saturday.

The Springboks, however, had to work a whole lot harder for their 3-0 victory over an Irish team which at least rediscovered the pride which had drained out of them after Friday's demoralising defeat by India.

South Africa's awesome 6-1 victory over Japan on Friday night resulted in them being installed as tournament favourites, and left the 100 or so Irish supporters who have travelled to Zimbabwe fearing the worst for Saturday's encounter.

For the first 34 minutes of the game they needn't have worried. Ireland were inspired, with Lynsey McVicker (who replaced Jenny Burke up front) providing some desperately needed pace in the attack, and a lively Caitriona O'Kelly (in for Carol Devine, who hurt her neck in training) made an impressive World Cup debut on the left of midfield.

With the match starting at 8.0 in the evening, the temperatures (in the low 60s) were more to the team's liking and they found the energy they lacked against India to give the confident South Africans a game they hadn't quite expected.

But enter Pietie Coetzee. The 18-year-old is making quite a name for herself at this tournament, having already scored five goals in two games with short corner strikes that resemble exocet missiles in flight. Just one minute before half- time she guided one in Alison Vance's direction and South Africa were one up. Five minutes after the break she added a second, before Caryn Bentley made it three with four minutes to go.

The scoreline, however, did not reflect how evenly matched a contest it was. The difference? Short corners. Ireland have failed to score from any of the 15 they have won in their two games, a statistic that is turning coach Terry Gregg into a broken man.

But Gregg was a lot more upbeat on Saturday evening than he had been after the Indian defeat, even applauding his players off the pitch.

"We were fantastic," he said. "We know we're outsiders, we know we've no chance, but what we must do is get our pride back and show that we deserve to be in this tournament. I think we may have stepped in that direction tonight. I'm pleased, we couldn't have played any better than that. Now we have to repeat that performance against England (tonight)."

Despite propping up Pool A, Gregg believes Ireland can still finish in the top four (which would put them in to the play-offs, later in the week, for a place in the World Cup finals). But they must win two of their three remaining games. "Once we get a win under our belts we can talk. If we can beat England or Canada, our final match against Japan becomes a cup final".

As for that flying mouse. It muscled its way into the press tent an hour before the start of Ireland's match on Saturday. It soared towards the ceiling before dive-bombing towards the tent's three Irish guests. Lap tops, phones, faxes and bottles of sun tan lotion were abandoned in haste as the trio sprinted towards the exit.

One of the trio ran for help and returned with an armed policeman, who prodded the offending creature, now sitting on the grass floor, with his FN rifle. "Have you never seen a cricket before," he asked with disdain, while peeping out from under the rim of his hat. "It is harmless."

"Maybe, but could you shoot it any way please," he was asked. He refused the request and marched out of the tent.

World Cup Qualifying Tournament

Saturday Pool B: Spain 1 (N Gabellanes), Russia 1 (N Tchegourdaeva); Scotland 9 (R Simpson 4, D Renilson, S Fraser 2, S MacDonald, V Neil), Zimbabwe 0. Pool A: England 1 (D MarstonSmith), India 0; South Africa 3 (P Coetzee 2, C Bentley), Ireland 0.

Yesterday Pool A: Canada 2 (A MacFarlane, A Grimes), Japan 4 (A Kato 2, S Morimoto, S Iwao). Pool B: Zimbabwe 0, China 11 (H Cai 3, H Yong 3, Z Yu 2, Y Liu, J Chen 2); Russia 1 (M Tchegour daeva), Scotland 0.

Today (Irish times)

Pool A: Canada v South Africa, 3.0; Japan v India, 5.0; England v Ireland, 7.0.