By Emily Goddard

The Kookaburras and the Hockeyroos took both Oceania Cup titlesNovember 3 - Australia's men's and women's hockey squads have both beaten their respective New Zealand rivals to take the Oceania Cup titles in Taranaki today.

The women's match went to a penalty shoot out after Australian captain Madonna Blyth scored an equaliser with just eight minutes to go to ensure the final finished on a 2-2 draw.

It was her teammate Jordyn Holzberger that had given the Hockeyroos an early lead, before Sophie Cocks and Kayla Sharland scored to bring the world number three New Zealand side back into the game.

But it was the visitors who ultimately claimed victory - and Australia's first Oceania Cup title since 2005 - by scoring five goals to New Zealand's four in the sudden death penalty shoot-out.

Today's win saw Australia's women take their first Oceania Cup title since 2005Today's win saw Australia's women take their first Oceania Cup title since 2005


"It was a very hard fought win and I'm really pleased that the girls were able to come from behind and win in the shoot-out," said the Australian women's head coach Adam Commens.

"We've been training for these shoot-outs as part of our programme for a long time now and each of the girls has their own strategy, which they executed well.

"These results don't come by chance or luck.

"They come through excellent preparation and quality execution of the game plan.

"It's our fourth tournament final since last year's Olympics and the girls are starting to feel what it's like to handle the pressure and perform to a game plan."

The bronze medal went to Samoa's women who triumphed over Papua New Guinea 4-3 after a shoot-out.

Meanwhile, the men's game was perhaps a little more predictable as the Australian men crushed their New Zealand counterparts 5-2 to take their eighth consecutive Oceania Cup title.

Jason Wilson scored the first goal for the visitors before a pair from Jake Whetton found the back of the net.

The Australian men crushed their New Zealand counterparts 5-2 to take their eighth consecutive Oceania Cup titleThe Australian men crushed their New Zealand counterparts 5-2 to take their eighth consecutive Oceania Cup title


Home athlete Steve Edwards scored New Zealand's first goal but this was followed up by Australian goals from Russell Ford and Glenn Simpson.

A late goal from New Zealand's Nick Haig was little consolation.

"It's always good to win and we played pretty well in patches but we had a shaky start when we were a bit frenetic," Australia's men's coach Graham Reid said.

"After that we settled into our rhythm and in the second half were more dominant, although it was a bit of a loose finish, which we'll need to cut out if we want to be back at world number one."

In a reverse of the women's bronze medal match, Papua New Guinea's men took the third podium spot after defeating Samoa 3-0.

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