HOCKEY/World Cup: By yesterday evening in Perth two batches of supporters were trooping solemnly back to their resting places in the city centre, England cricket's "Barmy Army" having witnessed yet another Ashes' day of humiliation, on day one of the third Test at the WACA, Ireland's hockey fans having watched their team being trounced 6-0 by Holland, to leave them pointless after four games at the World Cup.
It is, though, fair to say that Nasser Hussain is feeling the pressure a little more than Riet Kuper, the Irish coach, who yesterday admitted her team had been thoroughly outclassed.
The fact is Holland were 6-0 up after 47 minutes, scoring five goals in 11 bewildering second half minutes, and opted to preserve their energies in the final stages of the game, presumably with tomorrow's clash with Australia in mind, rather than look for more goals in temperatures that hit the 90s. That is how easy this pool fixture proved to be for them.
It was Ireland's biggest competitive defeat since Kuper took charge in early 1998 and rarely can they have been so comprehensively outclassed or outfought. That they only conceded one goal in the opening 36 minutes is a credit to their over-worked defence, with Arlene Boyles, once again, colossal in her sweeper role, but the game's final statistics - 40 circle penetrations by Holland to four by Ireland - gave a truer reflection.
In a dire first half Ireland failed to advance, meaningfully, into the Dutch circle even once, while their opponents failed, abysmally, to capitalise on their domination. By half-time Holland led by a mere goal, from Dutch captain Mijntje Donners, Kuper's niece, in the 13th minute, the forward converting her team's first penalty corner of the half.
A minute after the break Boyles attempted to cut out Miek van Geenhuizen's centre, only to nudge it past Angela Platt, before Fatima Moreira de Melo completed a world class corner routine, that involved four dizzying switches, to make it 3-0. Macha van der Vaart made it 4-0, after 43 minutes, collecting a free from the left, turning Rachael Kohler in the circle and firing home. Two minutes later Aniek van Hees capitalised on more poor Irish marking to add to the Dutch score before Ageeth Boomgaarth hit home Holland's fourth corner of the game, with a direct strike on goal.
To their credit Ireland steadied the ship thereafter, with Lynsey McVicker and Eimear Cregan producing their team's only shots on goal in the 70 minutes, but Ireland were painfully, and depressingly, out of their depth.
Admirably enough, Kuper sought no excuses at full-time ("the heat was the same for both teams"), while paying tribute to the Dutch who she now ranks as tournament favourites. "What can you do," she said, "against that class of performance? They were superb, we cannot complain about the result. You can never, ever doubt this team's efforts, but against that quality of opposition there is not a lot you can do."
Donners was unrepentant about her part in her aunt's downfall. "We were delighted to beat the Irish, we were a little worried about them after how they played against Australia. They have really good defenders so, yes, we were surprised to score six but, no, I did not say sorry to Riet."
Today Ireland play Spain, who looked awesome in their 4-1 win over the USA yesterday. Fair to say, then, that Ireland's supporters are looking forward to match five in pool B almost as much as the Barmy Army are anticipating day two of the Ashes Test.
IRELAND: A Platt; L Caulfield, A Boyles, D Sixsmith, K Maybin, L Lee, J Orbinson, R Kohler (capt), C McMahon, J Burke, L McVicker. Subs: T Browne, C O'Brien, K Humphreys, E Cregan, L O'Neill (all used).
HOLLAND: C Sinnge; M van der Vaart, F Moreira de Melo, M van Geenhuizen, M Scheepstra, M Donners (capt), A Boomgaardt, M Smabers, J Schopman, M Booij, F Kooijman. Subs: K Petri, E Verbakel, C De Bruijn, A van Hees, L van Keesel.
Umpires: J Duncan and K Yasueda.
WORLD CUP (at Perth); Pool A - Germany 3 Scotland 0; New Zealand 0 Korea 3. Pool B - South Africa 1 Japan 1; Spain 4 USA 1; Ireland 0 Holland 6; England 1 Australia 3.
Today: Pool A - Ukraine v Russia, 10.35; China v Russia, 12.35. Pool B: Ireland v Spain, 4.35 (8.35 am Irish time); Japan v England, 6.35. Tomorrow: Pool A - Germany v New Zealand, 9.05; Argentina v Scotland, 11.05; Korea v Russia, 4.05; China v Ukraine, 6.05. Pool B - Holland v Australia, 11.05.
