Hussar Grill SACS Water Polo Tournament up for grabs in Cape Town
CAPE TOWN.– Being clinical, dominant, and using the home ground advantage will be the order of the weekend for the South African Schools side, famously known as SACS, when they host the Hussar Grill Water Polo Tournament in Cape Town this coming weekend.
The home side, come into the tournament with their tales up having recently claimed the Clifton Water Polo Tournament in Durban last weekend.
However, SACS would’ve quickly forgotten about their triumph in the Zulu land and turned their attention to their inaugural tournament set to host 19 prestigious schools from Saturday 30 September to Monday, October 2nd.
The schools in action come from across the country and include the likes of Grey College, Jeppe Boys High from Gauteng, Parktown Boys High, and Pretoria Boys.
The Kwa-Zulu Natal province will also be widely represented in the Cape, with Hilton, Northwood, Kearsney College, and Clifton flying down to the Mother City.
From the Eastern Cape, Grey High from Gqeberha will also be in action while Selborne College from East London will also make the long trip down to face the best schools in the pool.
You might be interested: SACS get one past Paul Roos to claim Clifton Water Polo tournament.
SACS double “could” be on the cards:
The objective for the hosts is pretty simple this weekend, and that’s to win two titles in a space of one week.
After impressively claiming the Clifton Water Polo tournament last week by beating Cape rivals, Paul Roos (6-5), the home side will get into the groove knowing they have what it takes.
Their first match on the opening day will be against St Alban’s before playing in a Southern-suburb derby against Wynberg Boys High in their second clash of day one.
They will then face a motivated Kearsney side before taking St Stithians in their final match at 17:30.
Day two is where things will get really interesting for the hosts. They will face Clifton, who will feel undone after missing out on a final in their home tournament last weekend. Their final three fixtures of the day will also be highly contested, as Jeppe Boys High, Grey College and Grey High School will be looking to upset the favourites.
On Sunday, the home side will play against Bishops at 09:30, and by then would know if they’ve made It through to the quarterfinals.
What’s clear though is that SACS, judging from their performance last weekend, could be well on song to winning two trophies in a space of seven days.
Durban sides come to the party:
Since 1984, Durban schools have only won the tournament 12 times, dating back to 1985 when Durban High School shared the title with Rondebosch Boys High.
Since then, Westville, Northwood, Kearsney, Maritzburg College and Clifton have gone on to their hands on the prestigious title.
However, from the four schools representing the province this year, only Clifton has managed to win the title in the past five years, taking it in 2021 just after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The side (Clifton College) will come into the tournament high in spirts after an impressive showing in their home tournament last weekend where they finished in third spot beating Hilton College (9-5) in the third/fourth play-off.
Hilton, on the other side are back in the mix after a few years of absence.
Northwood and Kearsney College will enter the competition as underdogs. However, teams will be weary of Kearsney, who reached the quarterfinal in Clifton last weekend, only to lose out (10-9) against Paul Roos.
With the tournament wide open, this year, could pose an opportunity for the Durbanites to come to the party.
Embracing the underdogs term:
There are several teams not spoken about a lot going into this tournament, some are even from the Western Cape.
Bishops, Wynberg, Rondebosch Boys, and Paul Roos are serious contenders, despite all the talk around SACS.
Paul Roos particularly will be the team to beat in Pool B.
The boys from Paarl play a smart style of waterpolo, mixed with great effort from their defence and accuracy in front of goal.
These attributes saw them sail through the group stages at the Clifton tournament last weekend, to reach the final, and miss out on winning the whole thing by just one goal against SACS.
If there’s any team, you wouldn’t want to meet in a knock-out match, it’s definitely them.
Other teams lying down on the radar, are the two schools from the Eastern Cape, Selborne College, and Grey High School.
The two teams are coming in fresh, having not taken part in any festival over the past weeks. They will also look to bring a threat and ask some questions in their respective groups.
What is certain is that this tournament will be wide open, and the team that gets off to best start on day one could pose a threat throughout the weekend.
The groups are:
Pool A: Bishops, Clifton, Grey College, Grey High School, Jeppe Boys High, Kearsney College, SACS, St Alban’s, St Stithians, Wynberg Boys High.
Pool B: Hilton, Northwood, Parktown Boys High, Paul Roos, Pretoria Boys’ High, Rondebosch Boys’ High, Selborne College, St Benedicts, St Davids, St Johns.
Fixtures:
Day 1:
07:10- St Stithians vs Grey College; 07:30- Bishops vs Grey High; 07:50- Rondebosch vs Pretoria Boys High; 08:10- Hilton vs St David’s; 08:30- Kearsney vs Jeppe; 08:50- Clifton vs Wynberg 09:10- Paul Roos vs Northwood; 09:30- St Johns vs St Benedicts; 09:50- SACS vs St Alban’s; 10:10- Grey High vs Grey College; 10:30- Selborne vs Parktown Boys; 10:50- St Johns vs Pretoria Boys High; 11:10- Bishops vs Jeppe; 11:30- SACS vs Wynberg; 11:50- St Johns vs Pretoria Boys; 12:10- Paul Roos vs St Benedicts; 12:30- Clifton vs St Alban’s; 12:50- Kearsney vs St Stithians; 13:10- Northwood vs Parktown; 13:30- Hilton vs Selborne; 13:50- Grey High vs Jeppe; 14:10- Clifton vs Bishops; 14:30- Pretoria Boys vs St Benedicts; 14:50- Rondebosch vs Parktown; 15:10- St Stithians vs St Alban’s; 15:30- Kearsney vs SACS; 15:50- Paul Roos vs Selborne; 16:10- St Johns vs Hilton; 16:30- Grey College vs Wynberg; 16:50- Clifton vs Grey High; 17:10- St Davids vs Northwood; 17:30- St Stithians vs SACS; 17:50- Hilton vs Parktown; 18:10- Kearsney vs Grey College; 18:30-Paul Roos vs Pretoria Boys; 18:50- St Johns vs St Davids; 19:10- St Benedicts vs Northwood; 19:30- Wynberg vs Jeppe; 19:50- Bishops vs St Alban’s; 20:10- Rondebosch vs Selborne.
Day 2:
07:10- St Benedicts vs Parktown Boys; 07:30- Paul Roos vs St Davids; 07:50- St Johns vs Selborne; 08:10- Kearsney vs Grey High; 08:30- St Stithians vs Bishops; 08:50- Wynberg vs St Alban’s; 09:10- Clifton vs SACS; 09:30- Pretoria Boys vs Northwood; 09:50- Grey College vs Jeppe Boys; 10:10- Kearsney vs Bishops; 10:30- Rondebosch vs Hilton; 10:50- St David’s vs St Benedicts; 11:10- Clifton vs St Stithians; 11:30- Grey College vs St Alban’s; 11:50- Pretoria Boys vs Parktown; 12:10- Paul Roos vs Hilton; 12:30- Grey High vs Wynberg; 12:50- SACS vs Jeppe; 13:10- St John’s vs Rondebosch; 13:50- Kearsney vs Clifton; 14:10- Grey High vs St Alban’s; 14:30- St Davids vs Parktown Boys;14:50- Bishops vs Wynberg; 15:10- SACS vs Grey College; 15:30- Paul Roos vs St John’s; 15:50- Hilton vs St Benedicts; 16:10- Selborne vs Pretoria Boys; 16:30- Clifton vs Jeppe; 16:50- Kearsney vs St Albans; 17:10- Rondebosch vs Northwood; 17:30- St Stithians vs Wynberg; 17:50- Paul Roos vs Parktown; 18:10- Bishops vs Grey College; 18:30- Hilton vs Pretoria Boys; 18:50- Selborne vs St Davids; 19:10- Rondebosch vs St Benedicts; 19:30- SACS vs Grey High; 19:50- St Stithians vs Jeppe; 20:10- St Johns vs Northwood.
Day 3:
06:50- Kearsney vs Wynberg; 07:10- Jeppe vs St Alban’s; 07:30- St Davids vs Pretoria Boys; 07:50- Selborne vs St Benedicts; 08:10- Clifton vs Grey College; 08:30- St Stithians vs Grey High; 08:50- St Johns vs Parktown; 09:10- Hilton vs Northwood; 09:30- Bishops vs SACS; 09:50- Paul Roos vs Rondebosch; 10:40- Quarterfinal 1; 11:00- Quarterfinal 2; 11:20- Quarterfinal 3; 11:40- Quarterfinal 4; 12:30- Semi-final 1; 13:00- Semi-final 2; 14:00- Third/fourth play-off; 14:30- Final.
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