26 October 2023
Clifton College, Hilton College and Michaelhouse will fly the KZN flag against a deep field of teams at the St Stithians Invitational Water Polo Tournament from Thursday to Sunday.
Clifton College
The KZN Top 10 champions are in Group A, alongside Reddam House Helderfontein, St Alban’s College, St David’s Marist Inanda, and St John’s College.
It’s difficult to predict how matters will go, with the teams of stayers having experienced recent turnovers of personnel. What is certain is the teams in the Clifton’s group have a distinguished water polo pedigree.
Follow this link to catch the action live on SuperSport Schools
Grab the SuperSport Schools App!
Google Play Store 📲: SuperSport Schools – Apps on Google Play
IOS App Store 📲: SuperSport Schools on the App Store (apple.com)
Web 💻: https://live.supersportschools.com
Toughest opponent
St John’s College were, beyond a shadow of a doubt, one of the leading teams at the Hussar Grill SACS Water Polo Tournament, and St David’s were barely a step behind them. The former, of course, won the Clifton Water Polo Tournament in 2022. They are likely to be Clifton’s toughest group stage opponent.
Clifton was in action at the Northwood Stayers Tournament last weekend and despite losing boatloads of experience from their very successful 2023 team, they performed well. They went down to Westville, who went on to finish as runners-up, by one goal, 5-6, and pushed eventual champions, Kearsney College, to the brink in the semis.
The two schools drew 8-8, with Kearsney advancing to the final after a penalty shootout. Considering that Kearsney had lost only two players from its strong 2023 outfit, that was a good performance from Clifton.
It wasn’t unexpected, though. Coach Paul Martin has built a magnificent programme off of the base laid by Brad Rowe. He’s now been in charge for a decade and Clifton clearly has one of the premiere water polo programmes in South Africa.
Clifton down Hilton to capture KZN Top 10 Water Polo title | Pinnacle Schools (pinnacle-schools.com)
Hosts’ third as SACS win Clifton Water Polo Tournament | Pinnacle Schools (pinnacle-schools.com)
Hilton College
Hilton College is in Group B, up against Affies, Grey High School, Rondebosch Boys High and St Benedict’s College.
The boys from the KZN Midlands finished fourth at the at the Clifton Water Polo Tournament and as the runners-up in the KZN Top 10.
At the SACS event in Cape Town, Hilton beat Rondebosch 5-1 and St Benedict’s 4-0. Then, in the playoffs, they upset Bishops 3-1. Bishops had finished second in Pool A, with an identical record to the top of the table SACS, with whom they drew.
Eventually, Hilton fell 4-5 to Paul Roos in the semi-finals. Clifton defeated Hilton 4-2 in the playoff for third and fourth.
During the recent KZN Top 10, Hilton topped the table, narrowly ahead of Clifton, for combined points, based on the finishing positions of their u14, u16 and 1st team, so depth is clearly not at issue.
Michaelhouse
Michaelhouse, their great rivals, are in Group C. There, they face a stiff challenge from the two Cape Town schools, Bishops and SACS.
SACS won both the Clifton Water Polo Tournament and their own event a week later. Facing many of the best teams in the country, they suffered only one loss, going down 2-4 to Clifton in pool play in their own pool. Later, they edged out Clifton 5-4 in the playoffs.
Many will regard them as the favourites, but the turnover of players must be taken into account.
Bishops, as mentioned above, drew with SACS and matched their pool record at the SACS tournament before being stopped by Hilton. That’s enough to suggest they’ll be in the running, too.
House’s other two opponents in Group C, King Edward VII and Pretoria Boys High, finished towards the lower end of the two big aforementioned water polo tournaments, with KES ending 12th in Durban, and Boys High placing eighth out of 10 in their pool in Cape Town.
Michaelhouse are a bit of an unknown, to be frank. They had played little before the Clifton Water Polo Tournament, and their results reflected that, as they placed 15th.
More relevant, though, would be their recent stayers outing against Hilton this past weekend. Hilton won 14-10, but that suggests this Michaelhouse team is going to be very competitive.
Groups
Group A: Clifton College, Reddam House Helderfontein, St Alban’s College, St David’s Marist Inanda, St John’s College.
Group B: Afrikaans Hoer Seunskool (Affies), Grey High School, Hilton College, Rondebosch Boys High, St Benedict’s College.
Group C: Diocesan College (Bishops), King Edward VII, Michaelhouse, Pretoria Boys High, South African College Schools (SACS).
Group D: Grey College, Jeppe Boys High, Reddam House Constantia, St Andrew’s College, St Stithians Boys College.
Thursday, 26 October
Main Pool: 07:00- King Edward VII vs Michaelhouse; 08:40- St John’s College vs St David’s Marist Inanda; 09:30- St Stithians vs Jeppe Boys High; 12:00- Michaelhouse vs Pretoria Boys High; 13:40- St David’s Marist Inanda vs Clifton College; 14:30- St Andrew’s vs Jeppe Boys High; 16:10- St Stithians Boys vs Grey College.
Olympic South Pool: 07:00- Rondebosch Boys High vs St Benedict’s College; 09:30- SACS vs Bishops; 11:10- St Alban’s vs Reddam House Helderfontein; 12:00- Reddam House Constantia vs Grey College; 13:40- Rondebosch Boys High vs Grey High; 16:10- SACS vs Pretoria Boys High.
Olympic North: 07:00- Clifton vs St Alban’s College; 07:50- St Andrew’s vs Reddam House Constantia; 09:30- Hilton College vs Grey High; 11:10- Affies vs St Benedict’s College; 13:40- Bishops vs King Edward VII; 15:20- St John’s College vs Reddam House Helderfontein; 16:10- Hilton vs Affies.
Friday, 27 October
Main Pool: 07:00- Bishops vs Pretoria Boys High; 08:40- St John’s College vs St Alban’s College; 09:30- St Stithians vs Reddam House Constantia; 13:40- St David’s Marist Inanda vs St Alban’s College; 14:30- Jeppe Boys High vs Reddam House Constantia; 15:20- Clifton College vs St John’s College; 16:10- St Stithians College vs St Andrew’s College.
Olympic South Pool: 07:00- Grey High vs Affies; 09:30- Michaelhouse vs SACS; 11:10- Reddam House Helderfontein vs Clifton College; 12:00- St Andrew’s vs Grey College; 13:40- Grey High vs St Benedict’s; 16:10- SACS vs King Edward VII.
Olympic North Pool: 07:00- St David’s Marist Inanda vs Reddam House Helderfontein; 07:50- Grey College vs Jeppe Boys High; 09:30- St Benedict’s vs Hilton College; 11:10- Rondebosch Boys vs Affies; 12:00- King Edward VII vs Pretoria Boys High; 13:40- Bishops vs Michaelhouse; 16:10- Hilton vs Rondebosch.
Leave a Reply