Phil Burrows: Vantage Black Sticks Women's coach previews the first match against the USA

The Vantage Black Sticks Women are back in action against the USA in a two-match series, starting on Sunday afternoon in Auckland. 

This series serves as a crucial preparatory phase ahead of the Nations Cup in Chile in February as the team builds towards World Cup qualification against Australia in August 2025. 

Coach Phil Burrows caught up with D'Arcy Waldegrave to preview game one. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldgrave from News Talk ZEDB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It says News Talk TB on the All Sport Breakfast,
Will Borroughs joins us. Now he is the former Blackstick himself,
but he's the coach of the women's side. They've got
two test series coming tomorrow and Monday and Auckland. Good
morning to you, Phil. What can we expect in these
two games? How big is this?

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Good morning? Yeah, it's just it's a start for the
News Talk all right. We've had a bit of a
refresh of the squad and we've got some new, young,
exciting talent in the group. So yeah, we're just hoping
to build over the next kind of a few days
and play some good matches against the USA.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah. So the USA, where do they sit on a
global scale? Are they any good? These players?

Speaker 3 (00:53):
We're about that. We're about the same. They're just they're
just behind us in the rankings, so we're not too
far away. So we kind of had some battles with
them and over the last six to twelve months, and
you know, last time we played them, wasn't it wasn't
there our favorite day if that was the one that
knocked us out of Paris. So we've got a bit
of we've got a bit of redemption here.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
You say redeemption, not revenge. That's that's good coaching, That's
that's kind of passive aggressive film.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah, it is. It is. No, we certainly want to
get one back on them, and we need to start
getting back and winning being these teams that are ranked
around us, if we're going to start to try and
beat any of the big dog.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
So expectation, why is it you want to compete? But
should we expect victory here? Is that kind of by
the wayside when you look at preparation and building towards
the next Olympics.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, preparations that are fairly small given obviously we've had
the funding cunt. Everyone knows about that, so we've had
to limit our days. So we just have to do
the best of what we've got. But yeah, we're wanting
to put in a good performance and just and just
build it on it throughout the year.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
The main foc for yourself, from a coaching point of view,
you would have been trying to impress on your players.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
That's the one thing I'm trying to push on them
as we need to be physically fit so we can
play some fast bonding morning hockey. That's international hockey brings
and I want to play like that. I'll have to
be more attacking and B twenty five and I think
we've got the talent and the athletes to do. So
we need to make sure we try and get plenty
of games. And because that's probably the burgess issue is

(02:27):
how we find top quality competition in games throughout the year.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Lloyd elsmore tomorrow and Monday. That's the USA taking on
the advantage black stacks of women. What time do things
get under way? When do people need to be there
by Phil?

Speaker 3 (02:43):
So three o'clock tomorrow, lords will parking on Monday night,
five thirty we'll kick off. So yeah, hoping that you
can get plenty of people there and play some good hockey.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Get in there again amongst them always about the speed.
Every time I talk to anyone on hockey, it's about
how fast the game is going, how fast it's going
to be, and how fast it should be. As a
crazy old sports all about speed. Phil, You enjoy yourself, mate,
Thanks as always for your time.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Thank you for more from the All Sport Breakfast with
Darcy Watergrave. Listen live to News Talk set B on
Saturday mornings, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio