Kearsney win Northwood Stayers Water Polo Tournament
Kearsney College showed they are going to be a team to be reckoned with heading into 2024 after winning the Northwood Stayers Water Polo Tournament on the weekend.
During 2023, they had proved themselves to be one of the leading teams in KZN and, indeed, in South Africa. Now, with only two players matriculating, their cupboard is well stocked for future success.
While the stayers’ teams of Hilton College and Michaelhouse did battle on Saturday in Balgowan, where Hilton claimed a 14-10 victory, Northwood hosted Kearsney, Clifton College, DHS, Glenwood, Maritzburg College, Westville Boys’ High and Reddam House Helderfontein in an event that exposed the talent that will battle for the 1st team honours over the course of the next year.
Clifton had recently confirmed their status as KZN’s number one in 2023 by winning the KZN Top 10 Water Polo Tournament the previous weekend.
They had also been the top performing KZN school in the Clifton and Hussar Grill SACS tournaments. In Cape Town, they handed the hosts, SACS, the champions of both, their only loss. However, following their KZN Top 10 title-winning exploits, they said goodbye to a fair number of very experienced performers.
Still, with coach Paul Martin at the helm, Clifton is always in the running. They showed they meant business on Friday by brushing aside Reddam House 19-0. On Saturday, though, Westville scored a narrow 6-5 win over Clifton. It became clear that the Griffins, Clifton and Kearsney were the teams to beat.
Kearsney recorded a 7-1 win over Reddam House, but that was after only one quarter as lightning caused the game to be called off. Then, they further demonstrated their potential with a comfortable 13-6 win over the hosts, Northwood, who emerged as the fourth best team of the event. There was a suggestion, too, that there is better to come from the Knights after they beat Westville 8-5 on Sunday.
In a key contest on the final day, Kearsney battled Clifton for a place in the final. It was a tremendous tussle, with fortunes swaying one way and then the other. Neither team would buckle. It ended 8-8, so the contest went to a penalty shootout. It went the way of Kearsney, and they were into the title game.
Westville Boys’ High pushed their neighbours all the way in the title-decider, but when the final whistle sounded the scoreboard read Kearsney 8-6 Westville.
It was the first time in their history that Kearsney they had won the tournament.
RESULTS
Friday
Kearsney 19-3 Glenwood
Northwood 7-4 Maritzburg
Westville 14-8 DHS
Clifton 19-0 Reddam Helderfontein
Kearsney 16-1 Maritzburg
Northwood 7-3 Glenwood
Saturday
Kearsney 7-1 Reddam Helderfontein
DHS 8-12 Northwood
Clifton 15-6 Maritzburg
Westville 15-2 Glenwood
Clifton 5-6 Westville
DHS 14-6 Reddam Helderfontein
Northwood 6-13 Kearsney
Maritzburg 12 (1)-(0) 12 Glenwood
Clifton 13-6 DHS
Westville 11-2 Reddam Helderfontein
Sunday
Glenwood 3-8 DHS
Reddam 7 (1)-(2) 7 Maritzburg
Westville 5-8 Northwood
Kearsney 8 (1)-(0) 8 Clifton
DHS 10 (2)-(1) 10 Maritzburg
Northwood 4-6 Clifton
Westville 6-8 Kearsney
- Bowlers set up DHS for Switch Schools SA 20 win over Kearsney - 2025-10-30
- Clifton wins two KZN Top 10 titles, overall honours to Kearsney - 2025-10-28
- Hockly hauls Hilton to win against DHS - 2025-10-26
