Terrance Pieters, Duco Telgenkamp and Koen Bijen all scored twice in their first EuroHockey Championship appearances for the Netherlands in a victory over France.

The French thought they had broken the deadlock when Simon Martin-Brisac bundled the ball over the line from a corner but a video review showed the ball never left the circle and the effort was annulled.

After the slow start, the Dutch started to motor in the second quarter. Pieters swiped home amid a melee in the circle for the first in the 18th minute and Telgencamp made it two with a powerful shot after a swift attack left him with space.

Pieters got his second with the slightest of touches to a powerful ball into the circle for a 3-0 half-time lead and Telgencamp finished off a pitch-length move in the third quarter for an imposing four-goal lead.

Bijen added a couple more in the last 12 minutes, the second of which was a beauty at the end of a move from back to front, created by Joep de Mol’s long pass.

Player of the match Thijs van Dam said afterwards: “6-0 is a big win and we didn’t expect that. The first quarter was not our best but that’s normal in the first game. We played well, scored a few nice goals and really happy with this start to the tournament.”

Men’s Pool B: Netherlands 6 (T Pieters 2, D Telgencamp 2, K Bijen 2) Wales 0