Collegiate and Clarendon host mini-festivals to close off the season
Apart from the major festivals that take part every weekend around South Africa, are the exhibition matches, formally known as Derby matches between rival schools in the respective provinces on weekends.
This past weekend was no different when Water Polo is concerned, as schools in the Eastern Cape faced each other before concluding their respective seasons.
Collegiate, Pearson High School, and Woodridge, all from Gqeberha welcomed The Diocesan School for Girls (DSG) to town this weekend for u15 and first-team fixtures.
While in East London, Clarendon Girls hosted a second consecutive Water Polo tournament. This time around, however, it was for the second teams, an opportunity for the girls to stake their claims for the first team side ahead of next year.
Six schools partook in the tournament, with the DSG u16 team having a taste of what it felt like facing older, and tougher opposition.
Gqeberha derby:
The derby matches played in Gqeberha were hosted at Collegiate Girls High School.
The u15 section saw the hosts dominate proceedings, thumping Pearson (11-1) before edging out Woodridge (5-2), and then ended their campaign on a low when they lost to DSG (5-2) in their final match of the day.
The senior section was hard-fought, and Pearson High would’ve left happy after managing to hold the hosts to a four-all draw in the opening match.
Collegiate however managed to bounce back and got their first victory against Woodridge. Just like their u15 side, they also ended the day on a terrible note, losing to the same DSG (6-1).
Harrison 2nds Water Polo Festival:
The tournament, which featured only second teams from the respective schools went on for only one day.
The schools in attendance were Stirling High School, Hudson Park, Kingswood, DSG (u16), Clarendon, and Pearson High School.
In some of the exciting matches on display, Hudson Park opened proceedings with a resounding (8-0) win against Stirling High School.
The DSG u16 side also showed some powerhouse thumping the same Stirling (8-0), before wins for Kingswood against Pearson and a (10-0) drubbing from the hosts against the u16 side completed the day’s proceedings.
The results:
Gqeberha Derby:
u15 A
Collegiate 11, Pearson 1; Collegiate 5, Woodridge 2; DSG 5, Collegiate 2.
1st XV
Collegiate 4, Pearson 4; Collegiate 8, Woodridge 3; DSG 6, Collegiate 1.
Harrison Water Polo Festival:
Hudson 8, Stirling 0; Hudson 5, DSG (u16) 3; Pearson 5, Stirling 1; Hudson 6, Kingswood 1; Clarendon 12, Pearson 0; DSG (u16) 5, Kingswood 4; Hudson 8, Pearson 4; Clarendon 10, Kingswood 0; DSG (u16) 8, Stirling 1; Kingswood 6, Pearson 5; Clarendon 10, DSG 0.
