WALES' senior men's hockey team outperformed their world ranking again at the FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 in Belgium and the Netherlands, led by century cap winner and Monmouth Comprehensive alumni Jacob Draper.

The GB Olympian co-captain, who took up the sport at the school aged 11, is one of just three professionals in the Wales camp, playing his club hockey in Amsterdam.

Wales were the only amateur programme at the World Cup, and raised £40,000 through crowdfunding to finance their campaign after fighting through the qualifiers to hockey’s biggest stage, where they demonstrated their spirit, resilience, passion and quality to finish 15th.

The draw placed Wales in a challenging Pool D against hockey powerhouses India, Pakistan and England, with India up first in Amstelveen, where Jacob reached his 100th cap.

Sam Welsh had a moment to remember as he notched his first World Cup goal late on in the game, which ended 3-1 in India’s favour.

And Wales’ second game at the same Dutch stadium provided fantastic drama as they demonstrated their worth on hockey’s biggest stage.

Pakistan took an early lead, but quickfire strikes from Gareth Furlong and Rhys Bradshaw sent Wales into the halfway point 2-1 to the good.

Their opponents responded in quarter four with two rapid goals of their own, but Furlong then tucked away a penalty stroke for 3-3 to earn a dramatic point with minutes remaining.

It was a fitting way to mark a celebratory occasion for his brother, Rhodri, who reached 100 caps on the day.

There was another milestone achievement as Pool D came to a close a couple of days later, again in Amstelveen, as Jack Pritchard earned his 50th cap against England.

It was a tough day overall for Wales though in an 8-2 loss, although Gareth Furlong salvaged some celebration as he scored another brace late on in the game to take his tournament tally to four, placing his firmly among the competition’s top scorers.

Fred Newbold and Dan Kyriakides were next to be recognised during the World Cup campaign, Newbold earning his 50th cap and Kyriakides reaching 150 as Wales lined up against a tough New Zealand side in the second stage of the competition.

A Jolyon Morgan double raised hopes for Wales as they held their opposition 2-2 at the midway point, but New Zealand’s three goals in quarter three and two in quarter two saw them claim the win.

Days after receiving his 100th cap, Wales co-captain Draper notched his first goal of the World Cup against Japan in the final match before the classification round.

His goal pulled the game back to 2-1, before Sam Welsh got his second of the tournament with 30 seconds to go, but only after Japan had pulled away with a match-winning third on the break.

A 3-2 defeat saw Wales go into the 15th/16th classification game against Malaysia on Friday (August 28), for the first time crossing the border to compete in Belgium.

In Wavre, Danny Newcombe’s men reaffirmed their quality with a solid performance against a tough Malaysian outfit.

Co-skipper Ben Francis’ second-quarter opener and Liam Barker’s eventual fourth-quarter equaliser meant a 2-2 draw resulted in a shoot-out.

Toby Reynolds-Cotterill then provided the heroics, brilliantly saving four of Malaysia’s efforts, including a conclusive triple save in their fifth, to secure a 2-1 shoot-out win and 15th place, Jack Pritchard and Jolyon Morgan with the scores.