Jyske Bank BOXEN, Herning

Netherlands vs Poland 30:25 (15:8)

Henk Groener's side made it two wins out of two against Poland at Denmark 2015 thanks to a solid performance for nearly all of the 60 minutes in Herning against a Polish side who could not find their performance levels of the last two matches - wins against Hungary and Russia.

A 6:0 run for the Dutch over an eight-minute period from the 12th-20th minute put them 11:4 up and the Polish side never really recovered from being seven goals down.

Despite a late wobble through the last quarter where Poland scored twice to every Dutch strike, they could only come within four goals - in fact the Dutch had led from the third minute all the way through to the final buzzer.

The semi-final spot had already represented the best-ever position for either a men's or women's Dutch handball team at an international competitive tournament but with this result the Dutch are now guaranteed at least a silver medal.

Groener and his side are now one step away from direct qualification to Rio 2016 - what their past four years of development has been for under their 'One Team, One Dream'.

Speaking after the game Groener was full of pride about the result and performance.

“I’m very happy at the moment and very proud of the team," he said. "We’ve played a wonderful tournament so far and in this match we knew we had to beat Poland again which is not easy if you have played each other before.

“We had a great start, our defence was strong and we could play fast-breaks. We were able to create a distance in the first half but we also knew that Poland are a team who will never give up.

"There was a moment in the second half where we were maybe a little less concentrated maybe our focus and their goalkeeper was saving our shots and it was getting closer again but I think we stayed in control, kept our distance and we had a great win.

“Now we will celebrate a little bit and focus on the finals.”

His opposite number, Kim Rasmussen, thought a slow start did the damage but was still full of praise for his squad.

“This great Netherlands team deserved this victory and they were just a little bit too good for us." he said.

"The first 35 minutes I don’t know if our first game [against them] was in the players heads because it didn’t quite look like we quite believed that we could score against Tess.

“But when it looked completely impossible [to win] they let go of the nerves and showed great spirit to get back and if we would have had a little bit of luck and maybe one bounce had gone our way or one call to our way then maybe it would have been even closer.

“The Netherlands deserved the win; they played great and they played better than us today. We are very disappointed but I am very proud of the girls how they fought back -  we have 48 hours until the next game.”

Best Player of the Match Presented by adidas: Nycke GROOT (NED) - Centre Back