Hockey World Cup 2018 - Australia vs China: 5 talking points

#4 Australia's penalty corner specialists were on a roll

Australia's penalty corners specialists had a field day

It was the 10th minute of the game, when Australia earned their first penalty corner, and Blake Govers wasted no time in converting the same into a brilliant goal. This followed suit to a barrage of Australian goals that didn't allow China to even recover from the assault, forget making their famed comebacks. For the first time, none of the tactics employed by the classic Korean coach Kim Sang Ryul worked.

Interestingly, of the six penalty corners earned, four were converted into brilliant goals, and all of them were struck within the first half. It speaks a lot about the intensity with which the Kookaburras have prepared for this World Cup.

Blake Govers, who hadn't scored much in the previous two matches, came out on his own in this match, scoring a hattrick of goals, including a one that came on rebound. The only other goals on penalty corners came from Aran Zalewski and Jeremy Hayward, the other two penalty corner specialists for Australia.