Saints Invitational enters knockout stage after a dramatic day two
Only four teams were able to book their spots in the quarterfinals of the St Stithians College Water Polo Invitational on Friday, day two of the tournament, in Johannesburg.
After topping their respective pools, Rondebosch Boys’ High, South African College High School (SACS), St David’s Marist Inanda, and St Stithians, marched into the last eight.
They will, however, have to wait until 09:30 on Friday morning to find out who they’ll face for a place in the semifinals.
Bishops Diocesan College, Hilton College, St John’s College, and Kearsney College all finished second in their pools, meaning they’ll have to win a cross-pool playoff match to reach the quarterfinals.
There was plenty at stake on Friday after the event got off to a cracking start on Thursday.
In Pool A, Rondebosch and Bishops continued their dominance, scoring big wins over Michaelhouse and Pearson High, respectively. The Cape Town rivals then met to decide first place in the group.
It was a nail-biting Bish/Bosch clash, with coach Jared Wingate-Pearse’s Rondebosch side making their intentions clear from the get-go. They quickly rushed to a 2-0 lead after the first quarter, thanks to a Kieran Bennewith brace.
Bishops responded in the second chukka through James Malan and Christo Le Roux. That wasn’t enough, though, as Zack Labuschagne, Noah Reiback, and Jason Warneke netted to make it 5-2 to ‘Bosch at the halftime break.
The second half was all about Rondebosch despite an attempted late comeback by coach Jabulani Sibiya’s Bishops’ boys.
Nathan Corlett added his name to the scoresheet before Bennewith made it seven and completed his hat-trick in the process.
Tim Young and Matt Fenn led a late charge for Bishops, but it had come too late, and Dante Moore joined the scoring action before Rondebosch sealed an 11-8 win with strikes by Labuschagne, Warneke, and Reiback.
There was another decider in Pool B between St John’s and SACS. Both were also unbeaten after wins over St Benedict’s College and Jeppe High School for Boys earlier in the day.
In the opening two chukkas, there was very little to separate the sides, with St John’s narrowly ahead by 4-3 at the break.
Their goals came from braces by Luke Shipway and Christopher Chapman, while Ben Bigara netted two, and Luca Orgill scored from five metres out for SACS.
The second half was tightly contested, and the goalkeepers, Seth Hopkins and Oskar Stahljans, were frequently called into action.
After a long period with no goals, Simon Mussett made it five for St John’s before Bigara completed his hat-trick.
The Johannesburg side got their sixth through Fu-Nam Chen in the fourth chukka, but SACS scored twice through Bigara to snatch a thrilling 6-6 draw.
With that share of the spoils, SACS finished on top of Pool B on goal difference.
First place in Pool C was decided when St David’s defeated Hilton 11-7.
The Sandton-based side had overwhelmed Pretoria Boys High 9-4 earlier in the day, while Hilton brushed off Woodridge College 10-1.
It was, however, St David’s who made a bright start, firing into a 2-0 lead in the first chukka before Hilton fought back to trail only 4-5 midway through the contest.
In the second half, coach Dean Whyte‘s St David’s side upped the ante and outscored Hilton by six goals to three in the remaining two chukkas.
For a second day running, there were valiant contributions from Luke Laporte, Matthew Peacock, Cooper Haworth, and Danilo Giuricich.
The day’s proceedings ended with a Pool D fixture between the hosts, Saints, and the defending champions, Kearsney College.
Saints hadn’t lost a single game up to that point, but Kearsney had been stunned by Affies earlier in the day, with the Pretoria school claiming a 10-8 win.
In the opening chukka, Kearsney looked sharp and they edged ahead. St Stithians came out firing in the second chukka, however, which brought them a slender 4-3 halftime lead.
It was end-to-end stuff in the second half, with coach Nic Rodda‘s Kearsney snatching back the lead.
Coach Michael Stewart’s team talk heading into the fourth chukka worked like a charm, though, as Saints grabbed an equaliser to level the game at 5-5. That put St Stithians through to the quarterfinals after bagging six points to Kearsney’s five.
That leaves Kearsney to tackle their KZN rivals, Hilton College, in the pick of the quarterfinals’ clashes.
RESULTS
Friday, 17 October
Pool A
KES 11-8 Pearson High
Rondebosch 9-7 Michaelhouse
Pearson High 1-17 Bishops
Michaelhouse 10-6 KES
Rondebosch 11-8 Bishops
Pool B
DHS 7-10 St Benedict’s College
SACS 9-1 Jeppe
St John’s College 11-5 St Benedict’s College
Jeppe 13-5 DHS
St John’s College 6-6 SACS
Pool C
Reddam Constantia 9-8 Woodridge
St David’s 9-4 Pretoria Boys High
Woodridge 10-1 Hilton College
Pretoria Boys High 5-10 Reddam Constantia
Hilton College 7-11 St David’s
Pool D
St Andrew’s College 7-3 Affies
St Stithians 8-6 Grey High
Affies 10-8 Kearsney
Grey High 5-5 St Andrew’s College
St Stithians 5-5 Kearsney
FIXTURES
Saturday, 18 October
Cross-pool playoffs
07:00 – Bishops vs Jeppe @Main Pool
07:00 – St John’s vs Michaelhouse @Olympic North
07:00 – Hilton vs Kearsney @Olympic South
07:50 – Affies vs Reddam Constantia @Main Pool
Position 13-20
08:40 – Pearson vs St Benedict’s @Olympic South
09:30 – KES vs Durban High School @Main Pool
09:30 – Pretoria Boys High vs St Andrew’s College @Olympic North
09:30 – Woodridge vs Grey High @Olympic South
Quarterfinals
11:10 – Rondebosch vs W Kearsney vs Hilton @Olympic North
11:10 – SACS vs W Affies vs Reddam House @Main Pool
12:00 – St David’s vs W Bishops vs Jeppe @Olympic North
12:00 – St Stithians vs W St John’s vs Michaelhouse @Main Pool
