The New Zealand women's hockey team are preparing to face an Australian side bent on extracting some payback in the first of two trans-Tasman finals at the Oceania Cup in Taranaki.
The Black Sticks, the defending champions, came from behind to beat the Hockeyroos 3-2 in pool play at Stratford and New Zealand coach Mark Hager believes the Australians will provide an even tougher challenge on Sunday.
"They're a class side and they'll be fired-up for a bit of revenge after the last game," he said.
"I'd expect them to play a bit better now that they're settled into the time zone so it will be a close clash."
Hager said one thing he wanted the Blacks Sticks to improve on was moving the ball out of defence, which he described as poor in the pool victory.
"That's been a key focus for us," he said.
"We need to get more return out of our passes to create more penetration up front."
New Zealand tuned up for the final with another one-sided win over one of the tournament minnows, beating Samoa 26-0.
Striker Olivia Merry got four goals, while there were hat-tricks for Anita Punt, Rose Keddell, Gemma Flynn and Julia King.
The New Zealand men go into their title decider against favourites Australia having lost the sides' pool fixture 3-1.
Coach Colin Batch said his players had taken plenty from that defeat, including the need to improve defensively.
Like their female counterparts, the Black Sticks men also ran up a big score against Samoa on Saturday, finishing on 25-0, with Simon Child and Phil Burrows both getting hat-tricks.
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