Composed Selborne College holds off Kearsney at the Nick Rey Water Polo tournament
Selborne College held off a fierce Kearsney College side in a rousing final of the u16 Nick Rey Water Polo tournament hosted at Durban High School over the weekend.
The gripping clash went all the way to penalties after both sides scored five goals, with nothing to separate the teams after the fourth quarter.
The penalty shoot-out, a closely contested one fell in the hands of the Eastern Cape side after Kearsney missed a shot.
Selborne eventually won (3-2) on penalties.
In other matches on the day, Jeppe Boys High School from Gauteng thumped Glenwood High (13-7) to finish in the 13th spot. Whereas wins for Westville (5-4 against Northwood), Michaelhouse (5-3 versus Affies), and Hiton (7-5 against St Stithians) saw them all finish within the top 10 spots.
Dominant start pays off for the Eastern Capers:
Selborne College will look back at the tournament and draw inspiration from how they carried themselves in the pool.
The side began the weekend in the best way possible, putting their front foot forward and dominating as early as day one. Despite lapses of concentration creeping in early on day two, it’s their resilience and fight that stood out, and saw the side seal their spot for the grand finale.
In their first match, the visitors scored a mammoth 12 goals against Jeppe Boys. That statement win was however cancelled out on the morning of day two when the side lost by two points (11-9) against Hilton College.
The same resilience and never-say-die attitude saw Selborne redeem themselves when they put 12 goals past Michaelhouse on the same day.
That secured Selborne’s spot in the play-off spots, where they got past hosts, Durban High School (8-5) before a spirited win against Hilton College (4-2) in the semi-final on Sunday morning saw the side book a date with Kearsney College in the final.
Made to work for the win:
Heading into the final, Selborne were undoubtedly the favourites considering their run in the tournament and the type of attack and mid-field players they have in their arsenal.
However, Kearsney was always going to pose a massive threat, especially in a knockout match.
When looking at their run to the final, the KZN side was quiet about their business. The side with home-ground advantage scored 14 goals, conceding two against Glenwood in their opener. They continued on their goalscoring form, netting in a further 16 against the DHS Invitational side before thumping St Stithians (12-8) in the semi-final.
The final began on a physical, and high-tempo note.
The visitors from the Eastern Cape opened the scoring with two minutes. Kearsney slotted one back with just under a minute to play after one of the Selborne defenders was penalized for foul play.
The first chukka ended 1-1.
The second stanza only produced one goal – after both sides failed to increase their tallies early on, Kearsney pounced on a golden opportunity. When a counterattack presented itself, the KZN side passed the ball to one of their attackers, who with a reverse swing smashed the ball in the right-hand corner to give his side a 2-1 going into the final two quarters of the match.
The final two quarters were the most exhilarating, mouthwatering, and aggressive quarters of arguably the whole tournament.
Selborne got themselves back into the match by scoring three goals, while Kearsney also stayed in the clash with two goals of their own. In the end, both sides were tied at (4-4), and one goal a piece in the final chukka couldn’t separate the two teams, with penalties the only option.
Selborne kept their calm, slotting in their three shots while one miss by Kearsney gifted the East London side a hard-fought (3-2) in Durban.
Results:
Day 1:
Durban High School 9, Maritzburg College 1; Clifton 16, Glenwood 1; Kearsney 14, Westville 8; Northwood 6, St Benedict’s 1; St Stithians 10, Affies 5; Selborne 12, Jeppe 2; Greg College 9, DHS Invitational 5; Hilton 9, Michaelhouse 3.
Day 2:
Northwood 5, Maritzburg College 1; Kearsney 16, DHS invitational 2; St Stithians 14, Glenwood 2; Hilton 11, Jeppe 6; Kearsney 16, Grey College 4; DHS 14, St Benedict’s 2; Clifton 5, Affies 3; Hilton 11, Selborne College 9; Westville 6, DHS invitational 1; DHS 7, Northwood 6; St Stithians 9, Clifton 3; Selborne College 12, Michaelhouse 4; Westville 16, Grey College 5; Maritzburg College 9, St Benedict’s 1; Affies 8, Glenwood 5, Michaelhouse 16, Jeppe 8.
Day 3:
Affies 6, Northwood 5; Clifton 10, Maritzburg College 3; Selborne 14, Grey College 5; Michaelhouse 9, Westville 6; Glenwood 11, St Benedict’s 7; Jeppe 7, DHS Invitational 5; Selborne College 8, DHS 5; St Stithians 8, Michaelhouse 7; Hilton 11, Affies 6.
Day 4:
Selborne 4, Clifton 2; Kearsney College 12, St Stithians 8; St Benedict’s 5, DHS Invitational 5; Jeppe 13, Glenwood 7; Grey College 4, Maritzburg College 3; Westville 5, Northwood 4; DHS 4, Clifton 4; Michaelhouse 5, Affies 3; Hilton 7, St Stithians 5; Selborne College 5 (3), Kearsney 5 (2).
