Burras finish second at 2022 Sultan of Johor Cup

Arguably the standout team throughout the tournament, the Burras have returned home after a highly successful Sultan of Johor Cup despite losing the Final to India in a shootout.

Australia’s Under 21 Men’s Team went through the round robin stage undefeated, topping the table with four wins and a draw in the six nation tournament held in Malaysia.

With the top two teams progressing to the Final, the Burras booked their spot in the decider with a game to spare.

They trounced South Africa 6-1 in their final round robin match before facing an India side that they drew with 5-5 in a remarkable match in the group stage.

Despite having both won the Sultan of Johor Cup twice each, Australia and India had never faced each other in the Final in the tournament’s ten year history.

Sudeep Chirmako gave India a 13th minute lead before Jack Holland scored his fifth goal of the tournament to draw the Burras level late in the second quarter.

That’s how the score stayed to full time, forcing the Final to be decided by a shootout. Both sides converted three times with their first five attempts to send the shootout to sudden death.

Chirmako bobbed up again to win it for India with the 18th attempt in the shootout as it finished 5-4.

Despite the heartbreaking way to lose, Burras Coach Jay Stacy could not have been prouder of his group from the time they arrived for the pre tournament training camp in Kuala Lumpur.

“It was a terrific entry level tournament for the guys. It was the first international trip for some time due to COVID and the first international experience for a lot of the players, so it was great exposure and great experience,” said Stacy.

“To get the boys together in Kuala Lumpur for five days prior was an important part of our team building. It was a unified group and they learnt a lot.”

“We wanted to continually improve throughout the tournament which I think we did.

“In the Final we didn’t play our best game but we hung in there. The guys fought until the very end and when it comes down to a shootout anything can happen.”

“There are always ‘what ifs’ and ‘what could have been’….unfortunately it didn’t go our way but it was a tremendous effort from the group.”

The Burras scored an impressive 26 goals across their six matches, a sign of their purpose and intent to take the game on. Stacy was pleased with this aspect and said one important learning to come out of the tournament was for the Burras to control the tempo of matches when in control.

“The attacking side of our hockey was pretty good. We need to get better at managing games…that doesn’t mean taking our foot off the pedal but knowing how to conserve some energy, particularly in the hot and humid conditions in Malaysia,” said Stacy.

“The game against South Africa that we won 6-1, we could have controlled that game better with an eye on the Final at the same time the following day.

“Even in the Final…the last couple of minutes we made a couple of poor decisions and turned the ball over which could have cost us dearly…those are things you get from developing athletes.”

Stacy was grateful for the opportunity to compete in the Sultan of Johor Cup.

Being the only junior invitational hockey tournament in the world, it provides Australia’s next crop of Kookaburras with quality international competition while seeing how they measure up against players in a similar age group from other hockey nations.

“These tournaments give us an opportunity to see how players are developing against peer groups from other countries…many of whom will be at the Junior World Cup in December 2023,” said Stacy.

Next up for the Burras are the Oceania Junior World Cup Qualifiers against New Zealand in Canberra from 8-11 December. Both the Burras and New Zealand will qualify for the Junior World Cup as the they are the only two entrants confirmed for the qualifiers to take up the two Oceania spots.

All matches from the 2022 Sultan of Johor Cup are available to watch on YouTube.