Striker Sam Ward became the first player to register a hat-trick in the FIH Pro League as Britain’s men stormed to a 6-2 victory over the home nation at the Nga Puna Wai Hockey Stadium.

Olivia Merry later matched Ward’s feat by scoring three times for New Zealand's women, who recorded a fine 5-1 triumph over Britain’s women, the reigning Olympic champions.

A sell-out crowd were treated to three goals in the first-half of the men’s match, but none went the way of New Zealand as Britain established a commanding 3-0 lead at half-time.

All three goals arrived in the second quarter, with Ward, Phil Roper and Adam Dixon - recently named as the new Britain captain by head coach Danny Kerry - finding the target with well executed penalty corner routines.

While New Zealand had overturned deficits in their two previous FIH Pro League matches, fighting back from 3-0 and 4-2 down against The Netherlands and Belgium respectively, their chances of producing a comeback in this meeting were considerably reduced when Ward netted his second from close range early in the third quarter.

Ward was heavily involved in Britain’s fifth goal, showing excellent skills before providing the simplest of finishes for player of the match Roper to score his second.

Just as it seemed the result was all but settled, strikes from Nic Woods, on his 100th senior international appearance, and Hugo Inglis took the score to 5-2 and gave New Zealand optimism going into the final quarter.

But any potential momentum gathered was brought to a grinding halt when Ward completed his hat-trick with a tap-in.

The result leaves Britain’s men sitting top of the FIH Pro League standings thanks to a 100 per cent win record, adding to last month’s victory over Spain in Valencia.

"We are obviously delighted - it has been a long week with lots of training sessions and getting over a bit of jet-lag, but it is nice to come here and pick up those points," Dixon said.

"It’s pretty difficult to come away on the road and to get this Pro League campaign underway with two victories is all that we could ask for really."


The women’s fixture between New Zealand and Britain was notable for numerous reasons, with head coach Mark Hager taking charge of the latter for the first time since recently ending a hugely successful 10-year stint as head coach of the former. 

New Zealand came into the match on the back of two defeats, so were determined to bounce back against a Britain team that were making their FIH Pro League debut and had beaten them in the semi-finals of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro en-route to winning gold.

In terms of possession and shots, Britain dominated the opening two quarters but found themselves trailing 2-1 to the hosts, who suffered a late withdrawal from Stacey Michelsen, their star midfielder and a 2018 FIH Player of the Year nominee, through injury. 

Merry’s fifth-minute strike gave New Zealand a perfect start, getting the vital touch on a fine pass from Kelsey Smith before Giselle Ansley equalised with a penalty stroke before the end of the first quarter. 

Ella Gunson marked her 199th appearance for New Zealand with a well-taken penalty corner in the second quarter, giving them a 2-1 advantage at half-time.


It got even better for New Zealand after the break, with Merry scoring from two stunning strikes - one from open play and one from a penalty corner - to become the first player to score a hat-trick in the women’s FIH Pro League and establish a commanding 4-1 lead. 

A fifth goal arrived in the final minutes of the contest, with Amy Robinson producing a superb deflection to chip the goalkeeper and give New Zealand their first win of the competition.

FIH Pro League action is due to continue this weekend with a trio of matches taking place in the Tasmanian city of Hobart in Australia. 

Australia’s women take on China tomorrow, with the men’s and women’s teams playing against Germany on Sunday (February 10).