SACS successfully defends Clifton Water Polo Tournament title
SACS fought their way to an 8-7 victory over St John’s College to lift the Clifton Water Polo Tournament trophy for a second year in a row in a humdinger of a contest at the Clifton Aquatic Centre on Sunday afternoon.
The hosts, Clifton College, bagged the bronze medal after they overcame Paul Roos in another close encounter, edging out the Stellenbosch boys after a dramatic penalty shootout.
Each quarter of the final produced very different scripts
Near the end of the first chukka, St John’s threw the first punch to lead 1-0 after Ross Rovelli superbly picked out Fedor Sadovnik in front of the SACS goal, and he redirected the pass over the goal-line.
The sides spent the rest of the first chukka feeling each other out, trying to figure out the opposition’s weak points. Just before it ended, Ben Bigara struck for SACS.
The Cape Town school took to taking long-range efforts in the second chukka and, with some accurate shooting, were very well rewarded. Devon Card’s charges dominated and found the back of the net five times. Matt Forbes got the Capetonians on the board, bouncing the ball off the water to goalkeeper Kamogelo Thobejane‘s right and into the back of the net.
While St John’s added only one goal during the chukka, it was special. Nicholas Searle, under pressure from two defenders, twirled 360 degrees to spin past them and then picked out Christopher Chapman, who provided the finish Searle’s silky skill deserved.
SACS, though, had the bit between their teeth and, at 5-2 ahead at half-time, they were sitting pretty.
Whatever it is that Jon-Marc De Carvalho said at halftime resonated with his charges. St John’s came out firing in the third quarter and almost immediately cut the deficit to two goals with an early goal. The Johannesburg side kept up the pressure and by the end of the third chukka it was 5-5. Game on! SACS could have regained the lead in the final seconds of the quarter, but the woodwork, which was given a thorough working over during the tournament, denied them.
It was back-and-forth in the final chukka, with neither side able to establish dominance, but Ross Rovelli, a standout for St John’s on both ends of the pool, fired them into the lead only 30 seconds into it. Only 30 seconds later, though, Jandro Rojo-Roos had SACS back on level terms with a powerful long-range effort.
In the second chukka, SACS had inflicted damage on St John’s through their long-range shooting and they used that ploy to again take the lead with just over four minutes left in the match. It was their talisman, Nicholas Fall, who scored, firing the ball from the right with his left-arm howitzer across the face of the goalkeeper and into the top corner.
It looked as if SACS was for another goal with a breakout, but the impressive Rovelli nicked the ball away just in the nick of time.
St John’s was not ready to concede defeat and they equalised a minute later through Christopher Chapman, whose shot from the right bounced high off the water and rocketed into the top of the net.
The game was there for the taking and SACS took it, with Rojo-Roos executing a beautiful lob to score a superb winner. St John’s kept at it until the final whistle, but their efforts were in vain.
Earlier in the day, Clifton won the third and fourth-place playoff in an equally tight contest against Paul Roos.
The sides played out a 5-5 draw in regulation time, which sent the match to penalties. There, they shared 12 shots between them, with the home side converting five and Paul Roos four.
Clifton’s Ross Strauss, who was deservedly named the Goalkeeper of the Tournament, was the hero for the hosts.
The Attacker of the Tournament went to Nicholas Fall of SACS, and the Defender of the Tournament went to St John’s captain Greg Pryce, which matched the awards at the Inter-Provincial Tournament at the end of 2023. Ross Rovelli was named the Tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Results
1st/2nd: SACS 8–7 St John’s
3rd/4th: Clifton (5) 5-5 (4) Paul Roos
5th/6th: Kearsney 6–7 Westville
7th/8th: Hilton 8–7 Affies
9th/10th: Selborne 9–6 Northwood
11th/12th: Reddam House Constantia 8–9 DHS
13th/14th: Michaelhouse 8–7 KES
15th/16th: Maritzburg College 9–6 Grey College
