STAFF members Owain Dolan-Gray and Duncan Riddell would love nothing more than to be able to show a Commonwealth Games medal to the pupils at The Abbey School, writes Dave Wright.

But if that is to happen, then Wales and Scotland are going to need to exceed their expectations in the tournament which starts in Australia today.

Dolan-Gray, who coaches hockey at the Reading school, is among five Reading HC players who will be pulling on a red shirt, being joined by Dan Kyriakides, Dale Hutchinson, Ben Francis and James Carson.

Wales are in Pool B with England, which means they will be up against Reading teammate Liam Sanford, along with India, Malaysia and Pakistan Pool A includes a Scotland squad which features another three of their Sonning Lane colleagues, Tommy Alexander, Lee Morton and Riddell, a graduate events intern at The Abbey.

They will be facing Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.

“It’s great to be with four of my Reading teammates,” said Dolan-Gray, who also shares a house with some of the Scotland boys.

“We know it’s going to be a big challenge for us and we will need to play to our maximum potential. If we can do that, we will have a chance of beating teams like Malaysia and Pakistan.

“India and England are very good sides, but we will give it our best shot against them.

“It will be the first time I have played against England and I can’t wait for that.”

Scotland, like Wales, struggle to compete with the like of an England squad who train full-time at Bisham.

“Wales have different expectations than England,” admitted Dolan-Gray, who also played in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow four years ago.

And much the same applies to Scotland, as goalkeeper Alexander explains: “Compared to England, we don’t have as much training and funding as we would like.

“We have guys playing in the best leagues around Europe so they can learn and play with the best players possible.

“It has been really effective, but there are other teams who are more professional and it is always going to be difficult to compete with the big boys.”

The Reading player continued: “Scotland are in a tough group, playing teams who are ranked higher in the world.

“But we are targeting a couple of them for potential points. We’ve got a really good team and the aim is to finish as high up the group as we can.”

Wales get the tournament under way today by playing Pakistan at the Gold Coast Hockey Centre and they will be followed by Scotland versus South Africa.

England get day two under way by playing Malaysia with their Pool B game against Wales taking place next Tuesday.

In the meantime, Reading return to action on Sunday (2.30pm) when they host Fareham in the quarter finals of the national Tier 1 Championships at Sonning Lane with the winners away to Oxted in the last four.

In the last eight of the Women’s Tier 1 Championships, Conference West runners-up Reading visit Premier Division side Clifton Robinsons on Saturday with the winners home to Buckingham.

In the Tier 3 event, Reading Women Rockets hosts Bristol side Redland on Sunday with a 12.30pm pushback.

A strong Reading Under 18s side travel to Harleston Magpies on Sunday in the national U18 Girls Cup.