It’s an all-Cape final at the Saints Invitational Water Polo Tournament
The Western Cape’s Bishops Diocesan College and South African College High School (SACS) will reignite their rivalry on Sunday in the final of the St Stithians Invitational Water Polo Tournament.
The Saints Stayers concludes with the title game at 13:40 in the Olympic Pool and it, along with all of the classification games, will be broadcast LIVE on SuperSport Schools.
The journey to the title-deciding game was far from a walk in the park for the finalists.
Bishops contested the final last year but fell short against Kearsney College, so they were out for redemption.
Yet, they finished only second in Pool A behind Rondebosch Boys’ High and had to win a cross-pool playoff match against Jeppe High School for Boys to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Coach Jabulani Sibiya’s side got the job done efficiently against Jeppe, beating them 10-1, before outplaying a talented St David’s Marist Inanda team 7-3 in the quarters.
SACS, meanwhile, breezed into the quarterfinals after topping Pool B ahead of St John’s College.
They delivered a strong performance when they met Reddam House Constantia, a team they know well, for a place in the semi-finals, with coach Devon Card‘s boys recording an 8-3 win to set up a showdown with Rondebosch. Bishops, meanwhile, faced St Stithians.
Both matches were highly entertaining and kept the spectators on the edge of their seats as the sides traded blows for a place in the title game.
There was almost nothing to separate SACS and ‘Bosch, and it went down to the wire.
At the break, the sides were deadlocked at 4-4 and returned to score four each in the second half. At one stage, Rondebosch led by two goals, but SACS clawed their way back. Then, a moment of magic from Ben Bigara in the final minute sealed a dramatic 9-8 win for SACS.
In the second semi-final, Bishops started fast and opened a 2-0 lead after the first chukka, courtesy of a Matt Fenn brace.
When Tim Young and Harry Ford found the back of the net for Bishops in the second chukka, they appeared on course to cruise into the final, up 4-0 at the break.
Fenn, then, extended his team’s lead to five, but Saints showed plenty of fight and pulled two back through Andrew Ochse and Blake Morton.
It wasn’t to be for the hosts, however, as Bishops netted two more goals in the final chukka to one from St Stithians to score a 7-3 win.
The bronze medal match between Saints and Rondebosch takes place at 10:00 in the main pool.
RESULTS
Saturday, 18 October
Cross-pool playoffs
Bishops 10-1 Jeppe
St John’s 9-5 Michaelhouse
Hilton 5-9 Kearsney
Affies 6-7 Reddam Constantia
Position 13-20
Pearson 3-5 St Benedict’s
KES 7-6 Durban High School
Pretoria Boys High 7-9 St Andrew’s College
Woodridge 7-5 Grey High
Quarterfinals
Rondebosch 9-6 Kearsney
SACS 8-3 Reddam House
Bishops 7-3 St David’s
St Stithians 4-3 St John’s College
Semifinals
Bishops 7-3 St Stithians
SACS 9-8 Rondebosch
FIXTURES
Sunday, 19 October
07:00 – Woodridge vs Pearson @Olympic South (19/20)
07:00 – Pretoria Boys High vs DHS @Olympic North (17/18)
07:00 – Grey High vs St Benedict’s College @Saints Pool (15/16)
08:30 – St Andrew’s vs KES @Olympic South (13/14)
08:30 – Jeppe vs Affies @Olympic North (11/12)
08:30 – Hilton vs Michaelhouse @Saints Pool (9/10)
10:00 – St David’s vs Reddam House @Olympic South (7/8)
10:00 – St John’s vs Kearsney @Olympic North (5/6)
10:00 – St Stithians vs Rondebosch @Saints Pool (3/4)
13:40 – SACS vs Bishops (Final) @Olympic North
