Dylan Swanepoel
In the recent Greenfields SA World League Round 2 held at Hartleyvale in Cape Town the Steinhoff Maties players – Dylan Swanepoel, Daniel Bell, Pierre de Voux, Shannon Boucher and Keenan Horne – represented South Africa with distinction.
South Africa finished fourth after losing in a penalty shoot-out to African arch-rivals, Egypt. Swanepoel was one of South Africa’s best players in this tournament. Bell also impressed on the defence. Boucher and Horne – both strikers – created some great opportunities and were unlucky not to score from these chances. De Voux scored a vital goal against Egypt.
During the tournament South Africa played against China, Egypt and Switzerland in the group matches. In the quarterfinals they faced Azerbaijan before losing to China in the semi-final.
“Having made my debut in January and in the matches leading up to the start of World League, I have been gaining invaluable experience,” said Horne. “However with the World League tournament the focus became more detailed and having some more experienced guys – like regular captain Austin Smith – joining the team added heaps of confidence to the group. Having gone through the group stage undefeated I quickly realised that tournament hockey is different than playing in a series. The stakes were higher and one mistake could alter the course of your tournament. Every match in the group felt like a knock out match and we pulled off some hard earned victories; which instilled great confidence in the group. It’s a pity we couldn’t replicate that in the knock out phase of the tournament. Playing in an international tournament in Cape Town was special and the support we received from everyone was inspiring on its own and it’s disappointing we couldn’t repay the fans by ending off with a medal. This past week was a real learning curve for some of us less experienced players in the group especially when things aren’t always going as planned but it’s valuable experience nonetheless.”
Keenan Horne
De Voux has 63 caps and Swanepoel has played in some 31 matches for South Africa already, while Bell, Boucher and Horne – who made their debut for the national team only this year – are at 10 caps.