Coach Passmore and the Irish men's hockey team are back in Auckland, New Zealand four days before they embark on their Olympic Qualifying Tournament which offers them a chance to secure the final coveted spot for this year's Olympics.
After a very long journey from Ireland to New Zealand where the team spent four days training and preparing before they took the shorter trip across the water to Australia to continue with their preprations and also partake in some valuable match play against China and South Australia. The squad spent five days in Australia, where they played China twice (lost 3-4 and then 5-0) and South Australia (winning 5-1).
Earlier today Passmore commented on the five nil loss to China in their second clash "We had a number of lapses in defense which I was dissappointed with and this is something we will have to rectify before the start of the tournament".
"The corner count in that match was 6:4 in our favour, which is a timely reminder of the fine margins between winning and losing matches". he continued.
As they arrived back in New Zealand today Passmore seemed upbeat and most importantly happy to report that no injuries have been incurred by his squad, so all going well he should have his full panel of eighteen to select from for the first game against France this coming weekend. France also took the opportunity to visit Australia en route, spending time in Perth where under their new coach, appointed post Europeans, they appear to be in scoring form. Ireland will no doubt have a point to prove against the French after a narrow one nil loss at the European's saw Ireland relegated to 'B' status.
Passmore seems to be happy with how the preparations in the run up to this tournament have been going but his eye never seems to stray far from the ball "We have have been training hard and we have four days in New Zealand now before our first game, but critically we will be going into a taper period to ensure rest and recovery for players, but we will still be focussed on fine tuning our set piece play".
