SA mens hockey humbled in Malaysia

"In the first 30 minutes we were defensively compact and stayed in the game, but when we caught them on the break we didn't get the penalty corners or good enough goal-shots," coach Fabian Gregory said after the game.

"The small things have such a big impact, we won the ball but didn't play it into the right channels."

Trent Mitton opened the scoring on the half-hour mark, before Jamie Dwyer added a second three minutes later.

Nicholas Budgeon rounded off a late surge with Australia's third strike on the stroke of half-time.

Dwyer scored his second 11 minutes after the break to make it 4-0, before Chris Ciriello and Daniel Beale scored a quick-fire double to put the result beyond doubt after 54 minutes.

Mark Knowles then completed the rout seven minutes from time, ending a disappointing third game of the tournament.

"In vital phases we didn't control the ball," Gregory said.

"If you make mistakes against the world's best, you get punished but we are making progress. The level of intensity we showed was pleasing and I was impressed with the guys' attitude.

"Some of our young players impressed. We have a few more months before the World Cup so it's interesting to test players against the degree of pressure the world's number one side brings."

South Africa lost their opening two games to Malaysia and China heading into Monday's game.

The team next take on Canada on Wednesday afternoon.

(File photo:Gallo Images)