SACS bag second straight title but this time on home soil
CAPE TOWN.- SACS bagged their second consecutive title in a space of two weeks after defeating Paul Roos (6-3) in the final of the Hussar Grill SACS Water Polo tournament in Cape Town on Monday.
SACS came into the tournament on the back of a hard fought (7-6) victory over the same opponents at the Clifton Water Polo tournament in Durban a fortnight ago.
The hosts were dominant during the group stages, as they recorded wins in their matches against St Benedict’s College (8-2), Wynberg Boys’ High (4-2), Kearsney College (6-5) and St Stithians College (5-2).
The 2019 champions then began day two with a (4-2) defeat against Clifton before redeeming themselves with an impressive (10-4) win over Gauteng’s Jeppe before scoring five and seven goals against St Benedict’s and Wynberg respectively.
That set SACS up with a clash against Bishops on the final day, a clash they drew one-all, but they had just done enough to secure a spot in the quarterfinals.
In the last eight, SACS managed to sneak past St David’s, winning that clash (5-4) before edging out Clifton in the semi-finals with the same scoreline.
That meant the hosts would face Paul Roos for the second time in a week, after the two sides met in the final of the Clifton Water Polo.
The boys from Paarl also had an impressive run to the final, beating St Stithian (3-1) in the quarterfinals before a nail-biting (5-4) win against Hilton secured their spot in the final.
SACS take their chances in hotly contested final:
A final between two Cape sides will always come down to which team manages to capitalize and take its chances when they present themselves.
This was the case for SACS, as they managed to snatch every opportunity that came their way to secure the win.
The home side started like a rocket! By opening the scoring within the first minute through Nichols Fall in the left-hand corner.
Paul Roos quickly got themselves into the match, creating opportunities and almost levelled the scores when Cosmo Enthoven fired a shot which was saved by Ryan Dawson to keep the score at (1-0).
Paul Roos, who have never won the tournament were made to pay soon after that, when SACS played the ball down to their half and the ball travelled to Zack Cicero who doubled his side’s tally with under four minutes to play.
Paul Roos knew that scoring before the half-way mark would essentially make their jobs easier coming into the second quarter. And they did exactly that.
After defending a SACS attack on their half, the visitors turned down the ball and executed a counterattack. They passed the ball to Josh Reyneke, who timed his shot perfectly to score and cut the lead to (2-1) at the half-way mark.
Enthoven brothers fight hard but not on Nichols Fall’s watch:
Coming into the second quarter, Paul Roos needed to get ascendency on the match and limit playing catch-up water polo.
The hosts did exactly that, and came out firing in the second half, scoring from the kick-off.
Paul Enthoven, who was one of the standout players during the tournament alongside his brother, Cosmo Enthoven pioneered the ship for Paul Roos and when Cosmo scored after being put through by his brother, the match started taking a different direction.
That direction was quickly changed by SACS, as they also came back, scoring through Nicholas Fall, who scored from long range to secure his second of the match.
SACS then started playing smart Polo, allowing their opponents to defend while their strong shooters remained out the shooting range.
With that strategy, they made Paul Roos pay when Conor Melling-Williams also fired a shot from long range, to allow some breathing space between the two teams.
Fall returned to score his hattrick with under three minutes to play before the Enthoven brothers linked up again to see the score sitting at (5-3).
Try as they may, Paul Roos just couldn’t break SACS’s defence, and when Fall scored his fourth of the match, time ran out, and SACS claimed were victorious, winning the tournament for the first time since 2019.
In the other matches on the final day, Wynberg Boys finished on a high defeating Kearsney (6-5) before Selborne College thumped Pretoria Boys (7-2).
There were also wins for Clifton College who finished third above Hilton College, while St John’s beat Parktown Boys (8-0).
Scorers from the final:
SACS 6 (1) – (Nicholas Fall (4), Conor Melling-Williams, Zack Cicero); Paul Roos Gimnasium 3 (1) – (Cosmo Enthoven (2), Josh Reyneke).
Results:
Day 1:
St Stithians 10, Grey College 1; Grey High 3, Bishops 2; Rondebosch 3, Pretoria Boys High 2; Hilton 5, St David’s 1; Kearsney 5, Jeppe 2; Cifton 6, Wynberg 1; Paul Roos 5, Northwood 2; St Johns 9, St Benedicts 2; SACS 8, St Alban’s 0; Grey High 8, Grey College 3; Selborne 10, Parktown Boys 1; St Davids 6, Rondebosch 4; St Johns 4, Pretoria Boys High 2; Bishops 4, Jeppe 1; SACS 4, Wynberg 2; Paul Roos 7, St Benedicts 1; Clifton 8, St Alban’s 5; Kearsney 3, St Stithians 7; Northwood 8, Parktown 0; Hilton 4, Selborne 4; Grey High 4, Jeppe 8; Clifton 2, Bishops 3; Pretoria Boys 2, St Benedicts 2; Rondebosch 12, Parktown 0; St Stithians 5, St Alban’s 3; Kearsney 5, SACS 6; Paul Roos 5, Selborne 1; St Johns 7, Hilton 3; Grey College 3, Wynberg 3; Clifton 2, Grey High 3; St Davids 6, Northwood 1; St Stithians 2, SACS 5; Hilton 7, Parktown 1; Kearsney 6, Grey College 2; Paul Roos 7, Pretoria Boys 1; St Johns 7, St Davids 4; St Benedicts 2, Northwood 6; Wynberg 2, Jeppe 3; Bishops 5, St Alban’s 0; Rondebosch 4, Selborne 3.
Day 2:
St Benedicts 3, Parktown Boys 1; Paul Roos 7, St Davids 5; St Johns 5, Selborne 3; Kearsney 3, Grey High 2; St Stithians 2, Bishops 3; Wynberg 2, St Alban’s 3; Clifton 4, SACS 2; Pretoria Boys 1, Northwood 2; Grey College 2, Jeppe Boys 4; Kearsney 3, Bishops 6; Rondebosch 1, Hilton 5; St David’s 5, St Benedicts 1; Clifton 5, St Stithians 0; Grey College 0, St Alban’s 7; Pretoria Boys 5, Parktown 0; Paul Roos 3, Hilton 3; Grey High 3, Wynberg 3; SACS 10, Jeppe 4; St John’s 3, Rondebosch 2; Kearsney 2, Clifton 3; Grey High 6, St Alban’s 3; St Davids 11, Parktown Boys 1; Bishops 3, Wynberg 2; SACS 7, Grey College 1; Paul Roos 4, St John’s 3; Hilton 4, St Benedicts 0; Selborne 8, Pretoria Boys 1; Clifton 3, Jeppe 2; Kearsney 7, St Albans 4; Rondebosch 7, Northwood 1; St Stithians 5, Wynberg 2; Paul Roos 6, Parktown 0; Bishops 5, Grey College 2; Hilton 3, Pretoria Boys 0; Selborne 3, St Davids 4; Rondebosch 5, St Benedicts 0; SACS 5, Grey High 3; St Stithians 8, Jeppe 2; St Johns 6, Northwood 2.
Day 3:
Wynberg 6, Kearsney 5; Jeppe 4, St Alban’s 1; St David’s 6, Pretoria Boys 2; Selborne 7, St Benedict’s 2; Clifton 7, Grey College 0; St Stithians 6, Grey High 0; St Johns 8, Parktown 0; Hilton 5, Northwood 1; Bishops 1, SACS 1; Paul Roos 4, Rondebosch 4.
Quarterfinals:
Clifton 2, St Johns 1; Hilton 3, Bishops 1; SACS 5, St David’s 4; Paul Roos 3, St Stithians 1.
Semi-finals:
Paul Roos 5, Hilton 4; SACS 5, Clifton 4.
Final:
SACS 6, Paul Roos 3.
