The New Zealand men's hockey team has suffered a 6-1 hiding from world number three Germany at the Six Nations tournament in Valencia.
Black Sticks player Kane Russell Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Black Sticks struggled against the super-efficient Germans who scored four of their goals from penalty corners, one from a penalty stroke and another field goal.
Mortiz Furste grabbed a hat-trick while Jonas Gomoll, Tom Grambusch and Christopher Ruhr were also on the board for Germany.
The Black Sticks manged a consolation goal one minute from fulltime with a penalty corner drag flick from Kane Russell.
Head coach Colin Batch said it was a disappointing result and shows some areas of the game that still need working on.
"It's a pretty disappointing performance from us today. Our first quarter was ok but then Germany hit their strides and we couldn't stem the flow," he said.
"We needed to put more pressure on Germany but once they raced out to a four goal lead at halftime it was very hard work from there."
The New Zealanders were beaten 2-nil by Spain in their opening game and play India on Friday morning.
This tournament is part of the Black Sticks buildup to the Rio Olympics in August.
