Australia vs. Argentina Test Series begins in Canberra – Hockey Update
The Argentinean Women’s hockey team is to play against both the Australian Senior team, Hockeyroos and the Junior Team Australia A in a series of test matches that begin from April 1 to 5 at the National Hockey Centre, Lyneham in Canberra.
In the Canberra Series, few players will make their come-back including Teneal Attard, the key defender after recovering from her ACL injury that happened last September at the World Cup 2010. Moreover, Holly Evans together with her former team member Renee
Trost will reappear in international hockey at the Canberra Series. Trost had been excluded from the Hockeyroos squad since the 2008 Beijing Olympics when she left the competition due to an emergency.
Considering their recent success over the World Champion team in the 4 Nation Tournament of Mendoza, the Australian coach Adam Commens believes that the experiment of introducing eight new players to play against the World top-ranked teams proved successful.
Therefore, this practice must keep going until the upcoming mega event.
“After a successful tour of Argentina, we will continue the theme of exposing as many players as possible to international competition in the early stages of our preparation towards London. It is our intention to have an open selection policy during this
phase so we can observe the different dynamics and combinations that are available to the Hockeyroos,” said Commens.
The Australia A team will also be playing a match against the Hockeyroos on April 3, enabling even a better learning chance for the juniors to opt at their home soil.
Former Hockeyroos member Emily Hurtz will play in the Australia A team for the first time since the 2010 Commonwealth Games when she dislocated her shoulder. Moreover, Jill Dwyer, Bianca Greenshields, Rachael Lynch, Kate Jenner, Heather Langham, Jade Warrender,
Georgia Nanscawen and Kandice Olivieri will accompany Hurtz as team-members in Canberra.
Apart from the above mentioned players, the Australia A squad is to compete against Las Leonas includes Ashlee Wells, Nina Khoury, Stacia Joseph, Kate Hollywood, Elise Stacy, Katelin Marks, Claire Messent and Georgie Parker.
After the Canberra Series, both the Hockeyroos and Las Leonas will make their way to Sydney, Australia where a two-test series will take place between the two Women’s hockey teams.
These matches will be played at the Sydney Olympic Park Hockey Centre on April 8 and 9. As compared to the Hockeyroos squad of Canberra Series, a different team has been announced to play against Argentina for the Sydney Series.
The match schedule for Canberra Series is given as:
April 1 Australia A vs. Argentina
April 2 Hockeyroos vs. Argentina
April 3 Hockeyroos vs. Australia A
April 4 Australia A vs. Argentina
April 5 Hockeyroos vs. Argentina
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