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International & Performance > International Teams
INTERNATIONAL TEAMS - Senior Men

Men’s Program
The Wales Men's Hockey Team compete in Tournaments and Test match series on a regular basis both at home and away. The major focuses are the European Nations Championships, the Commonwealth Games and the annual Celtic Cup. The Team is in the Trophy Division of the European Nations event which will be contested in Lisbon, Portugal in September 2007. Having just missed out on promotion in Rome in 2005 (Bronze medal winners) athletes and management are aiming for a strong performance that will gain them a promotion to the Championship Division (top 8 in Europe) in 2009.

Click here for the official Senior Men’s website

Senior Men’s Squad Management Team

HEAD COACH
Mike Williamson
Email: [email protected]

MANAGER
TBA
 

ASST. COACH
Brian Hibbert
Email: [email protected]

GK COACH  / MATCH ANALYSIS
Grahame Mansell-Grace
Email: [email protected]

PHYSIOLOGIST/STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACH/VIDEO OPERATOR
Julian Owen
 

PHYSIOTHERAPISTS
Zoe Grant
 

SPORTS MASSAGE THERAPIST
Clare Whittington
 

11th July 2007
Wales 4 Czech Republic 1
Two goals from Beeston striker Dave Griffiths and a first international goal for Southgate’s Joel Evans helped Wales to a well earned victory over the Czech Republic on Saturday (1100). Ollie Cooper got the Welsh back on level terms after the break with a penalty corner after the side had gone in to the break 1:0 down from an excellent corner strike from the Czech no.5 Prochazka.
The first half was evenly matched, with neither side able to grab dominance on a lively pitch. The second half was a different matter with Wales benefiting from their sensible use of the bench in the first half. Huw Jones has probably never had so much space and possession in an international match and he put both to good use regularly setting the forwards away. With another victory over a higher ranked team, preparations for the Europeans in September continue to progress well.

11th July 2007
Wales 2 Czech Republic 1
This match, televised live on Czech television (Wales have now played 5 televised matches this year) was in sharp contrast to the game on Saturday. The Czechs had obviously studied the video from Saturday pretty well and had also recalled their number one keeper. They went ahead but Wales came back with another corner success for Ollie Cooper and went ahead through a corner rebound from 18 year old Huw Stevens (Canterbury) who had earned his first Senior international cap on Saturday along with Matt Grinham (Southgate). Goalkeeper Matt Simkin deputising for George Harris played extremely well throughout . His communication and shot stopping were of the highest order.
Manager Chris Marriott was very pleased with the weekends work. “We’ve come back twice this weekend against A division opposition this weekend and experience like that is invaluable. We have had a longer look at some players, and there is no doubt that we have significantly more depth than we did in 2005. Competition for places in the squad for the Europeans will be very tough and we will have to make some difficult decisions. We will have a look at every body in the squad over the next two events in the programme and will hopefully have a better idea of the final squad. Things seem to be going well at the moment and we are looking forward to the Celtic Cup in a couple of weeks time.”

15 June 2007
Setanta Sports Trophy (Dublin) DAY 1: Wales 1, Egypt 0
In pretty appalling conditions Wales found it hard to find their rhythm on an unfamiliar pitch. Driving rain and very unseasonal temperatures made it difficult for everybody. Wales struggled to overcome a strict man to man defence and it was only in the second half that they were able to start to find some control and to lengthen their phases of possession and to turn them into scoring opportunities. Helped by the Egyptians going down to ten men on two separate occasions, Wales’ midfield started to find some space to work in and allow their forwards to get some good possession in the top third of the pitch. From a penalty corner early into the 2nd half, the ball was slipped left from the top to Dom Graham who saw the keeper moving across his goal and flicked the ball high into the far corner of the goal. From then on in Wales dominated the game, limiting Egypt to scraps of possession who failed to threaten the Welsh defence in any concerted way. Despite this dominancy, Wales were not able to increase their lead. A very satisfying result for Wales with some tougher tests ahead. Not all good news though with Josh Smith taking a direct hit to his foot running out at a penalty corner just before half time. Despite returning after the break, the injury prevented any further involvement. Subsequent x-rays show an awkward break which may require surgery, putting his participation in the Europeans in Lisbon in September in some doubt.

17 June 2007
Setanta Sports Trophy (Dublin) DAY 2: Wales 0, Canada 2
After the encouraging win on Thursday v Egypt Wales came down to earth with a bump on Friday v Canada. The difference between the squads was clear. Whilst Canada were able to field a number of players with caps numbering in the hundreds, the welsh squad is nowhere near as experienced, and are at the beginning of their programme whilst the Canadians have recently toured England, Scotland and played in the Aslan Shah event in Malaysia. The Canadians also had the benefit of a rest day on the Thursday and were noticeably fresher. Having said that, despite going gone into the break 1 down from a rebound at a penalty corner and going further behind in the second half after Reading and Wales Captain Rhys Joyce was dispossessed allowing Ravi Kahlon to spank the ball past keeper George Harris, Wales had clear chances to get back into the game and to get a result. No injuries this time and with key players Matt Ruxton and Ben Rogers joining the squad later in the evening, Coach Mike Williamson is looking forward to the chance to play Ireland tomorrow for a place in the final.

18 June 2007
Setanta Sports Trophy (Dublin) DAY 3: Wales 1, Ireland 3
Today saw Wales move their game up a level from our performances in the GB Super League and the two matches so far in the Setanta Sports Trophy. Wales moved the ball around much more purposefully and caused the Irish a few problems with our movement patterns off the ball. Welsh possession and control in attack led to a number of free hits around the circle, and it was from one of these that saw the ball transferred to Ed Bevan in a planned move and hit into the circle for Huw Jones to deflect the ball past Harte in the Irish goal. Wales allowed the Irish to reply almost immediately after giving away a penalty corner for a rash tackle in the 25. Stephen Butler made no mistake and flicked the ball low into the corner of the Welsh goal. The second half wasn’t so much the luck of the Irish, rather the bad luck of the Welsh as our bad run of injuries continued with experienced half back, Zak Jones going off to hospital for precautionary x-rays after he took a hit on the foot for the second game in a row. He was soon to be joined in the A and E department by influential inside forward Ben Rogers who dislocated his right shoulder after diving for the ball necessitating an overnight stay in hospital. Wales allowed the two injuries to affect their thinking and were not able to continue their standard of play from the first 45 minutes of the game and allowed the Irish to start to dominate and score two goals, one from another penalty corner and other from a long corner deflection. On another day Wales would have dealt with these and come away with a result. Wales have the chance to play the Irish again in the Celtic Cup in Wrexham in July and will be keen to make amends for the mistakes they made in the second half. Wales will play Egypt again on Sunday for third/fourth position. With a heavily depleted squad, this will be no easy game, but with heart and hwyl in abundance, it is often when their backs are to the wall that Wales pull out a great performance.

19 June 2007
Setanta Sports Trophy (Dublin) DAY 4: Wales 1, Egypt 1 (4-2 on ps)
Despite having beaten Egypt three days earlier, we were under no illusion about the task ahead. With only two spare outfield players on the bench, the guys new that they were going to have to bust a gut to get a similar result. Mike Williamson did a great job to keep the guys focused and positive as they started the game where they left off on the Thursday and looked pretty assured. Egypt are a pretty skilful side, and had their moments in attack. From one of these, Amr El Sayed managed to find some space in the circle where he received the ball following some good tight skill in the D from a team mate and hit the ball past George Harris who returned to the side after being rested for the Ireland game the day before.

Although a goal down, some more wise words from Mike at half time saw the guys retake the field determined not to let this opportunity pass them by. Their renewed optimism was repaid when Ollie Cooper flicked a corner low past the keepers left foot on 64 minutes, a corner won whilst the Egyptians were down to 9 men. Unfortunately our comeback came a bit too late to win in normal time and the guys had the dubious pleasure of 15 minutes overtime to deal with. They battled through their fatigue and saw time out to take things to a penalty shot out. In George Harris, Wales have probably one of the best keepers in Great Britain, and his ability was on full show saving two Egyptian flicks in spectacular fashion. With four flicks scored from 5, Wales won the game and secured 3rd place 4-2 on stokes (5-3 overall). Wales’ next outing is a training game versus a strong England side at NEWI, Wrexham on Sat 30th June (1200) and from there to a two match series in Prague the following weekend in the build up to the Europeans.

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Senior Men’s Squad 2006/7

* = Selected for Euro Nations

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Senior Men's Squad Results 2005 to date

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