GB beaten by Springboks

SOUTH AFRICA 5  GREAT BRITAIN 3

FIRST TEST MATCH IN CAPE TOWN

Great Britain made a disappointing start to the three
match test series against South Africa by losing 5-3 in the opening
encounter in front of 2,000 fans in Cape town.

It started well enough, perhaps against the run of play
Reading`s Nick Catlin opened the scoring for GB after he followed
up a Richard Mantell penalty corner shot.  The Springboks
rallied and were 2-1 up at the interval.

The home side went 3-1 up in 43 minutes, but GB pulled one back
when Simon Mantell followed up his own initial shot to beat the
Springbok keeper.  The fight back failed to materialise and
the South Africans stretched their lead to 5-2.  Rob Moore got
a goal in the final minute but it was little more than a
consolation.

After the game Andy Halliday, GB team manager, said:  “It
was a disappointing start to the test series.  We were slow
out of the blocks and were punished by a clinical South African
team, but we had plenty of chances to get back into the game which
we didn`t take.”

The second test match is on Tuesday.

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