27 October 2023
Day two of the St Stithians Invitational Water Polo Tournament saw Hilton College chalk up two solid wins in Pool C action, but Clifton won one and lost one, while Michaelhouse went down to two Cape Town powerhouses.
Hilton College
Hilton went goal-for-goal with St Benedict’s in their morning outing before pulling away to record a 10-6 victory. Then, they scored a fine win over Rondebosch.
In a battle of two unbeatens, Bosch defeated Affies 10-6 in their first game of the day. Hilton, though, had their number. It was tight, but the black and white handed the Capetonians their first reversal, winning 6-4.
The final standings in Pool C where Hilton, Rondebosch and Affies all lost once, unfortunately for the boys from KZN, left Hilton on the outside looking in, third in the pool.
Clifton College
Clifton won a close one against Reddam House Helderfontein in the morning, edging it 7-6. In the afternoon, St John’s College presented a stiffer challenge.
The Johannesburg school caught Clifton out early on two swift counter-attacks to go 3-1 up. From there, Clifton was never able to bridge the gap.
They were seldom allowed to get in close on goal as St John’s did a good job of man-to-man defence and worked hard to block the shooting lanes.
A 9-6 victory left St John’s as one of three unbeaten teams at the close of the day’s action.
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Michaelhouse
Michaelhouse won both of their games on day one. On day two, they lost both, but that was not entirely unexpected.
SACS were clear favourites heading into their clash against the Balgowan boys, as they would be against any other school in South Africa at present, and they duly ran out 13-5 winners.
In the afternoon, House battled hard against Bishops. In the end, though, they came up two goals shy of the Diocesan College tally, going down 6-8.
Clean records
SACS, with the win over Michaelhouse and a surprisingly close 12-10 victory over KES, kept their record clean.
The other team to end the day with four wins from four games was Saint Andrew’s College. They were 10-7 winners over Grey College at midday and then edged St Stithians 7-6 to hand the hosts their first loss.
KZN clash
Those results have thrown up a big KZN clash at 07:00 on Saturday morning, with Clifton and Hilton doing battle in the Saints Polo Pool in a cross-pool playoff.
Earlier in the term, Clifton had Hilton’s number, beating them three times in succession: in the Clifton Water Polo Tournament, the Hussar Grill SACS Water Polo Tournament, and the KZN Top 10.
The Durban school has, however, lost a number of experienced stalwarts to the matric exams, including the majority of the record eight players who reached 100 or more first team caps this season. They have looked vulnerable, and Hilton would dearly love to even the score somewhat, but traditional rivalry games are never easy to call.
RESULTS
Group A
St David’s 17-4 Reddam Helderfontein
St John’s 8-3 St Alban’s
Clifton 7-6 Reddam Helderfontein
St David’s 7-4 St Alban’s
Clifton 6-9 St John’s
Group B
Grey High 8-13 Affies
Hilton College 10-6 St Benedict’s
Rondebosch 10-6 Affies
Grey High 14-6 St Benedict’s
Rondebosch 4-6 Hilton College
Group C
Bishops 21-2 Pretoria Boys
SACS 13-5 Michaelhouse
KES 14-2 Pretoria Boys
Bishops 8-6 Michaelhouse
SACS 12-10 KES
Group D
Jeppe 9-11 Grey College
St Stithians 5-3 Reddam Constantia
St Andrew’s 10-7 Grey College
Jeppe 7-6 Reddam Constantia
St Stithians 6-7 St Andrew’s
Saturday, 28 October
07:00 (G41) PO 5-12 (A2/B3) – Polo Pool, Clifton vs Hilton College
07:00 (G42) PO 5-12 (B2/A3) – Olympic North, Affies vs St David’s
07:00 (G43) PO 5-12 (C2/D3) – Olympic South, Bishops vs Grey College
07:50 (G44) PO 5-12 (D2/C3) – Polo Pool, St Stithians vs Michaelhouse
08:40 (G45) PO 13-20 (A5/B4) – Olympic South, Reddam Helderfontein vs Grey High
09:30 (G46) – PO 13-20 (A4/B5) – Polo Pool, St Alban’s vs St Benedict’s
09:30 (G47) – PO 13-20 (C5/D4) – Olympic North, Pretoria Boys vs Jeppe
09:30 (G48) – PO 13-20 (C4/D5) – Olympic South, KES vs Reddam Constantia
11:10 (G49) – QF1 (A1/W43) – Olympic North, St John’s 18A vs W43
11:10 (G50) – QF2 (W44/B1) – Polo Pool, W44 vs Rondebosch
12:00 (G51) – QF3 (W41/C1) – Olympic North, W41 vs SACS
12:00 (G52) – QF4 (D1/W42) – Polo Pool, St Andrew’s vs W42
13:40 (G53) – PO 17-20 (L45/L47) – Olympic South, L45 vs L47
13:40 (G54) – PO 17-20 (L46/L48) – Olympic North, L46 vs L48
14:30 (G55) – PO 9-12 (L43/L41) – Olympic North, L43 vs L41
14:30 (G56) – PO 9-12 (L44/L42) – Polo Pool, L44 vs L42
15:20 (G57) – PO 13-16 (W47/W45), Olympic North, W47 vs W45
16:10 (G58) – SF1 (W50/W49) – Polo Pool, W50 vs W49
16:10 (G59) – PO 13-16 (W46/W48) – Olympic North, W46 vs W48
17:00 (G60) – SF2 (W52/W51) – Polo Pool, W52 vs W51
17:00 (G61) – PO 5-8 (L50/L49) – Olympic North, L50 vs L49
18:40 (G62) – PO 5-8 (L52/L51) – Olympic North, L52 vs L51
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