Men’s EuroHockey Indoor Nations Championships III
Gondomor (POR), 20-22 January 2012
Pool A
Portugal
Hungary
France
Finland
Pool B
Croatia
Turkey
Wales
Belgium
DAY 1: Friday 20 January 2012
In the opening match of the EuroHockey Nations Indoor Championship in Portugal Wales came from 0-2 down to register an encouraging draw against one of the favourites. The first half proved to be a very scrappy affair with neither side seemingly able to unlock their opponents defence. Early in the second half Wales conceded two goals and faced an opposition who were determined to cram their own defence to stop Wales getting back into the game. Faced with this deficit, Wales took the brave decision to withdraw their goalkeeper, leaving them with an additional outfield player. The decision proved to be 100% correct as goals from Andrew Siemann (pc) and Liam Brignall with just 7 seconds left on the clock saw Wales end up drawing 2-2.
In their second match of the day Wales came up against the overall tournament favourites Belgium and paid the price in conceding two goals in the first 4'. However, in successive matches Wales pulled back level with firstly Ben Croxall scoring after a slick move followed in the very next minute by Rufas McNaught-Barrington scoring the equalising goal. However the experience of the Belgians told with Wales conceding a further three goals before the break. Things did not get much better in the second half as whilst Wales did not capitalise on their goal scoring opportunities their opponents did leaving Wales 8-2 behind. McNaught-Barrington converted a late pernalty stroke to gain a goal back but Belgium ran out confortable victors 8-3.
| 09:30 | B | Croatia | 2 | Wales | 2 |
| 10:40 | B | Turkey | 5 | Belgium | 6 |
| 11:50 | A | Portugal | 4 | France | 6 |
| 13:00 | A | Hungary | 5 | Finland | 6 |
| 14:30 | B | Wales | 3 | Belgium | 8 |
| 15:40 | B | Turkey | 3 | Croatia | 8 |
| 16:50 | A | France | 10 | Finland | 2 |
| 18:00 | A | Hungary | 4 | Portugal | 1 |
DAY 2: Saturday 21 January 2012
Wales dominated their first game of Day 2 from the start but only had a narrow 1-0 lead to show at half time from a Lewis Prosser open play goal. The second half was much the same with Wales dominating play, however this time the chances were converted with a hat trick from Rufus McNaught-Berrington with two corners and a penalty stroke flick and an open play goal from Mark Whatling. A good win for the squad which means they carry 3 points into the D pool.
In their first pool D match Wales played Hungary and ran out 10-4 winners. First half goals from Whatling, McNaught-Barrington, Prosser and Joe Naughalty Wales a slender 4-3 half time lead. Wales stepped up the tempo in the second half and scored a further 6 goals (McNaught-Barrington, Naughalty, Prosser, Dafydd Thomas and Ben Croxall (2)) to win 10-4. A successful day with Wales looking to finish the tournament with a win against Finland to top pool D.
| 09:00 | B | Croatia | 4 | Belgium | 5 |
| 10:10 | B | Wales | 5 | Turkey | 3 |
| 11:20 | A | Portugal | 8 | Finland | 0 |
| 12:30 | A | Hungary | 3 | France | 6 |
| 15:30 | D | 4A Finland | 1 | 4B Turkey | 7 |
| 16:40 | D | 3A Hungary | 4 | 3B Wales | 10 |
| 17:50 | C | 2A Portugal | 5 | 2B Croatia | 3 |
| 19:15 | C | 1A France | 6 | 1B Belgium | 6 |
DAY 3: Sunday 21 January 2012
In their final game against Ffinland, Wales went two goals up in the first half through penalty corner conversions from McNaught-Barrington and Naughalty. In the second Wales, who were determined to clinch 5th place kept up the pressure and scored a further 5 goals without reply through McNaught-Barrington, Croxall, Whatling, Prosser and Naughalty.
Overall a satisfying tournament with only one defeat against the eventual silver medallists, Belgium.
| 10:00 | D | 4A Finland | 0 | 3B Wales | 7 |
| 11:10 | D | 3A Hungary | 4 | 4B Turkey | 3 |
| 13:00 | C | 2A Portugal | 4 | 1B Belgium | 4 |
| 14:30 | C | 1A France | 2 | 2B Croatia | 0 |
Final positions
1st: France (promoted to Championship II in 2014)
2nd: Belgium (promoted to Championship II in 2014)
3rd: Portugal
4th: Croatia
5th: Wales
6th: Turkey
7th: Hungary
8th: Finland
3nd February 2012
Indoor EuroHockey Nations Championship interviews
Following the successes in Portugal, Hockey Wales took time out to interview a member of each of the squads. The EuroNations Division III was hosted in Gondomar, Portugal this year and saw our Senior Men and Women go and do battle with France, Finland, Hungary, Belgium, Turkey, Croatia and Portugal (Men) and Croatia, Sweden, Italy Turkey, Portugal and Belgium (Women) in three days of frantic action! Both teams suffered mixed fortunes over the course of the competition which saw our Women take Silver while the men finish a respectable 5th out of eight.
We spoke with Tina Evans, the Welsh Women's Indoor Captain and Liam Brignull, voted Players' Player of the Tournament for the Men's side on their experiences throughout the competition and the rest of the season ahead!
Interview with Liam Brignull
Liam Brignull, currently playing for EHL Men's West Conference club, Cardiff & UWIC, is a new face in the Senior set up and was voted Players Player of the Tournament in Portugal. The Men ended the competition after recovering from a few early set backs in 5th place.
HW: Hello Liam! It wasn't the result we hoped for but how did the competition go?
LB: It was a great experience; we really enjoyed our time out there and learnt so much in the games that we played. We also suffered from the amount of preparation we had compared with a lot of other teams who are playing indoor regularly. We were disappointed to play the Croatians when we did as we had really built up a lot of moment towards the end of the competition and we had hoped for promotion.
HW: What was the mood in the camp like?
LB: Really good! There was a real mix of the Senior's from the outdoor squads and new guys like myself and Dafydd Tomos, who played for the first time for Wales indoors, but we were really made to feel welcome in the set up and that gave us a lot of confidence for the rest of the tournament!
HW: We saw the photos of the venue! It looked really nice, what it like was to play there.
LB: It was a massive stadium, but the atmosphere was a little flat at times. The place was really grand though, and that really ramped up the expectations but because there wasn't much of a following it felt a little underused! When Portugal played it was better, as a few more seats were filled but it was still quiet awe inspiring!
HW: How do you feel about your chances next year?
LB: It's getting more and more popular and that's apparent in the relatively young group we took out with us, I think the oldest player was only 28 so that gives us a good grounding to work with the people we have and strive to achieve more. Indoor is such a great game and it really helps the outdoor one with all the skills and techniques you learn.
HW: Was it difficult to play the 'welsh way' of Hockey with all the defensive minded teams in the division?
LB: We always strive to play attacking hockey, we like to be adventurous and expressive and that was sometimes difficult to do against some more defensive minded teams. We were also conscious of all out attack against teams like Belgium who can hit you on the break and cause you a lot of problems.
HW: Are you looking forward to getting back into the outdoor season now?
LB: There is a big program ahead for the Under 21 Men and the EuroHockey Nations Championship in Holland and the Senior's are also pushing forward with their programme as well, so it's all going on and I hope to be involved through it all! In regards to my club Hockey Cardiff & UWIC are doing well in the league and we are really pushing ourselves to play better hockey. The surprise factor of our game is gone so it's really important for us to dig deep and keep the good performances up. It's our hope we can end above Whitchurch in the rankings this season and send a message out with it!
HW: Anything else you'd like to add today?
LB: Just a big thank you to Naz and the Management team, it's really not an easy job to manage these trips away, but without them we wouldn't be able to do what we do! To those people out there thinking about Indoor hockey, I say go for it. People should really look at Indoor Hockey and see it as an opportunity to improve there skills, don't be afraid to give it ago! Lots of people say 'It's not my game' but I love lifting the ball in outdoors and still really enjoyed the experience indoor has offered me!
