Ireland suffer Test defeat to the Netherlands in Cape Town

A final quarter blitz denied Ireland a famous result against world number two side, the Netherlands, as they eventually succumbed 5-2 in their Test match in Cape Town yesterday.

Paul Gleghorne and Alan Sothern had tied things up at 2-2 with 15 minutes to go, the former with a sharp rebound off the goalkeeper's pads, the latter with a sweetly-taken penalty corner move.

But three goals from Roel Boevendeert saw the World Cup silver medallists transform the result in the closing phases.

Ireland meet the Dutch for a second time today in Stellenbosch before facing Belgium twice over the weekend as part of an intensive warm-weather training camp ahead of World League round two in San Diego next month. IRELAND: D Fitzgerald, M Ingram, J Bell, R Gormley, J Jackson, C Cargo, A Sothern, M Robson, K Shimmins, B McCandless, M Darling, P Gleghorne, S O Donoghue, P Caruth, J Lorimer, K Good, J Bruton, M Watt, D Carlisle. Thursday's fixture: Ireland v Netherlands, 4pm (Irish time), Stellenbosch