Kookaburras Draw First Test Against Belgium

The Kookaburras have drawn four all with Belgium in the opening Test of their series in Canberra, with WAIS hockey players Fergus Kavanagh and Ian Burcher both taking part in the match.

WAIS team mate Kiel Brown was one of a number of key Kookaburras players on the sideline as the plucky Belgium side fought back from 3-0 down at half time to secure the draw.

Eli Matheson opened the scoring for the home side in the 29th minute and sparked a dominant period where the Kookaburras ran out to a 3-0 lead thanks to further goals from Simon Orchard and Luke Doerner.

The 10th ranked Belgium side, coached by former Kookaburra Adam Commens, fought back in the second half though, and hit the front after scoring four goals in a 20 minute period after the break. It was left to Doerner to prevent Australia losing to the European side for the first time, with the penalty corner specialist converting a corner in the 68th minute to tie the scores.

Kookaburras coach Ric Charlesworth wasn’t impressed with the effort of his young side, citing too many mistakes across the pitch.

“It was our fault tonight, we made too many mistakes and if you make too many mistakes you wont get the result you wantm” he said after the match.

“We can improve a lot. Sometimes a team losses five goals to nothing and then wins the next. That can happen, mainly our problems tonight were our own fault, and those are things we can rectify.”

Match two of the series will be played Saturday night.