SOUTH AFRICA proved to be the more accomplished side in the first of the play offs for the purely academic ninth 12th places in the World Cup qualifying tournament at the Bukit Jalil hockey stadium in Kuala Lumpur early this morning.
So, tomorrow, it is down to a battle to avoid the wooden spoon in another struggle with Belarus, whom, the Irish side defeated 3-2 in their pool match earlier in the week.
Also this morning, Switzerland gained a 2-0 win over the Belarussians to earn a meeting with South Africa in the game ultimately to decide ninth spot.
It was a wake up call at 4.30 this morning for the Irish squad and a police escort through the sleeping city which soon would be throbbing and choking with traffic.
Although out of the reckoning for a place among the 12 teams who will be competing in Utrecht next year, this was still a game with some prestige at stake. South Africa made an immediate impact after the ending of apartheid in qualifying for the 1994 World Cup in Sydney and then the Olympic Games in Atlanta (where they finished 10th and ninth respectively) and were well fancied to advance again in Kuala Lumpur.
But the South Africans ended up ignominiously in last spot in Pool A while Ireland were having their woes in Pool B.
This morning, however, there was little doubt that South Africa were a stronger team. Although Ireland matched them for stages in the opening half, hesitancy in the defence allowed Greg Nicol to score the opening goal in the 27th minute.
Mike Cullen increased the lead early in the second half. There followed a succession of fine saves by Nigel Henderson, but the South Africans boosted their tally with goals by Craig Fulton and Nicol in the 65th and 66th minutes.
Last night there was a lavish eight course banquet for all the tournament's participants and dignitaries. Before sending his players off for some sleep, Ireland team manager George Compston accepted the honour of replying on behalf of the 500 guests to the Malaysians' hospitality.
They have provided facilities which are unmatched in hockey circles, particularly in the state of the art, 12,000 seater stadium, which has an adjacent arena, also with the finest of astroturf pitches and ample spectator accommodation.
One criticism, though, is that with the two pitches available, it would have been a welcome relief for all concerned if no fixture had been arranged, for the afternoon. Ireland, especially, suffered from the sapping heat in the game against Argentina - the players lost as much as 2kg per man.
Among some notable marks achieved here over the past eight days was the reaching of 75 caps by Alan Dowd (unfortunately in the Argentina match), and of Ivan Bateman, Colin Hade and Gregg Sterritt passing the 50 notches.
Incidentally, the game against Belarus was Ireland's 500th international since the first game against Wales at Rhyl in 1895, and a statistic that escaped our notice was that in finding the target from a short corner against New Zealand in Cagliari in October, Robbie Taylor scored the 1,000th goal registered by his country.
