16 September 2024
Clifton College, Hilton College and Kearsney College have all been at the forefront of water polo in KZN this year and they proved their strength once again, this time at u15 level, when they were joined by Maritzburg College, at the Ian Melliar Cup in Cape Town.
The event, hosted by Wynberg Boys’ High, brought together many of the leading water polo-playing schools from around the country from Thursday through to Sunday, and KZN’s leading trio shone, while, for College, it was a learning experience of water polo competition at the highest level.
Clifton made it all the way through to the final, but they came up short against Rondebosch Boys’ High in the title decider, with ‘Bosch proving themselves to be the top team through the course of the competition.
The Durban side’s challenge began with a 4-7 defeat against the defending champions, Bishops, but they quickly overwhelmed a Cape Town Invitational side and Grey College, scoring 12 times in both wins. But it wasn’t only Bishops who challenged Clifton in their pool. Reddam House Constantia was a top outfit, too, and they held Clifton to a 5-5 draw.
A 6-1 defeat of St Stithians left the Durban boys in third place in the pool after the round-robin matches with an identical record to Reddam, but inferior by a single goal.
Faced with a tough path to the final, it was time for Clifton to show their mettle and they more than proved their character with three wins in succession over very tough opposition, beating SACS 7-6, Kearsney 6-5, and Wynberg 7-6.
After running that gauntlet, they were not quite up for the challenge of Rondebosch in the final, but they had produced a superb run to make it there.
Hilton College also shone and they fired in plenty of goals in their first four matches, overpowering Glenwood House 10-5, St Andrew’s College 9-4, Pretoria Boys High 9-1 and St David’s Marist Inanda 8-4.
They, then, ran into the powerful ‘Bosch boys and fell 2-8. They were immediately back on a winning track in their next outing, though, cruising to a 7-2 win over Affies, but a 5-7 loss to Bishops was costly.
Still, Hilton finished well, defeating Paul Roos 9-7 before edging out Kearsney 11-10 in a cracking clash for fifth place (see full standings below).
Kearsney opened with five wins on the trot to better Hilton’s start. They brushed aside St Alban’s, Paarl Boys’ High and Wynberg u15B, but were pushed all the way by Affies and Wynberg, winning both of those games 4-3.
It was their familiar foes, Clifton, who finally stopped Kearsney, scoring a 6-5 win, but the Botha’s Hill bunch bounced back with a hard-fought 7-6 victory over Grey High. That was followed by their superb showdown with Hilton.
College found the going tough, remembering that it was a stacked field, but they’ll have learned some lessons and will surely benefit from the experience.
At the conclusion of the event, Clifton’s Izah Roux was named the Best Goalkeeper. The Best Attacker went to Harry Ford, of Bishops, and the Best Defender to Ben Gray, of Rondebosch.
The Roland Rudd Trophy for the Most Valuable Player was presented to Noah Reiback, who has already made an impact with the Rondebosch first team this year.
Clifton’s Izah Roux and Jake Frederic, Kearsney’s James Whatmore, and Lwango Ntantala, of Hilton, were included in the Team of the Tournament.
Kearsney was further recognised when they were presented with the Keith Richardson Shield for Sportsmanship.
TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT
Izah Frederic (Clifton), Oliver Badenhorst (Bishops), Jake Frederic (Clifton), Caleb Levey (Grey High), Lwango Ntantala (Hilton), James Whatmore (Kearsney), James Swart (Paul Roos), Kieran Bennewith (Rondebosch), Riley Clarke (Wynberg), Samuel Mocke (Wynberg)
Schools Loyalty Link Winner – Chad Parker (St Stithians)
RESULTS
Clifton
Clifton 4-7 Bishops
Clifton 12-4 Cape Town Invitational
Clifton 12-1 Grey College
Clifton 5-5 Reddam House Constantia
Clifton 6-1 St Stithians
Clifton 7-6 SACS
Clifton 6-5 Kearsney
Clifton 7-6 Wynberg
Clifton 2-10 Rondebosch
Hilton
Hilton 10-5 Glenwood House
Hilton 9-4 St Andrew’s College
Hilton 9-1 Pretoria Boys High
Hilton 8-4 St David’s Marist Inanda
Hilton 2-8 Rondebosch Boys’ High
Hilton 7-2 Affies
Hilton 5-7 Bishops
Hilton 9-7 Paul Roos
Hilton 11-10 Kearsney
Kearsney
Kearsney 4-3 Affies
Kearsney 13-0 St Alban’s
Kearsney 9-1 Paarl Boys’ High
Kearsney 4-3 Wynberg
Kearsney 13-2 Wynberg u15B
Kearsney 5-6 Clifton
Kearsney 7-6 Grey High
Kearsney 10-11 Hilton
Maritzburg College
Maritzburg College 3-13 St John’s College
Maritzburg College 3-10 Paul Roos
Maritzburg College 2-6 Jeppe
Maritzburg College 0-11 SACS
Maritzburg College 2-11 Grey High
Maritzburg College 4-11 Paarl Boys’ High
Maritzburg College 3-10 Wynberg
Maritzburg College 3-8 Jeppe
FINAL STANDINGS
Rondebosch
Clifton
Bishops
Wynberg
Hilton
Kearsney
Paul Roos
Grey High
Reddam House Constantia
SACS
Affies
St Andrew’s College
St Stithians
St John’s
Glenwood House
St Davids
Paarl Boys
Pretoria Boys
CT Invitational
St Alban’s
Jeppe
Maritzburg College
Grey College
WBHS u15B Squad
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