St John’s downs St Stithians to win St Alban’s Beach Tournament

By Vuyo Ndudane , in Water Sports | Featured Water Sports | News , at 2024-09-10 Tags: Affies, CBC Bulawayo [ZIM], Jeppe High School for Boys, St Alban's College, St John's College - Johannesburg, St Stithians College, Super C

Gauteng’s schools opened their water polo season in Pretoria over the weekend at the St Alban’s Beach Tournament, which brought together 14 u18 teams, including 1st and 2nd sides, and CBC Bulawayo, from Zimbabwe, to compete for the title.

It came down to a showdown between two Johannesburg powerhouses in the final, with St John’s triumphing 16-13 over St Stithians in a nail-biter.

Their win began with a blistering start, which had St John’s 5-1 up after the first chukka. Saints, though, soon found their stride and worked their way back into the contest in the second and third chukkas, eventually drawing level at 9-9. The teams traded blow-for-blow, with the score advancing to 11-11 and, then, 12-12.

In the final chukka, however, St John’s grabbed the initiative and pulled clear to win by three goals. Nicholas Pearce and Ross Rovelli, both members of the Central Gauteng Schools team which finished as runners-up at the Schools Water Polo South Africa Inter-Provincial Tournament in December, led the way for St John’s, netting six goals each.

On the defensive side of things, Greg Pryce, the Defender of the Tournament at the Inter-Provincials, received the same award at St Alban’s and was also declared the Most Valuable Player. He scored four times. Rovelli picked up the Best Attacker Award.

The depth of the St John’s water polo programme was shown in the performance of the school’s 2nd side, which finished a commendable sixth out of the 14 teams.

The goals in the final were widely distributed for St Stithians, with Declan Wood bagging four, Liam Tebbutt, James Crick and Marc Smith netting a couple each, and Logan du Preez, Travis Donelly, and Kyle Kennerly also getting onto the scoresheet.

Third place went the way of Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affies), who beat Jeppe High School for Boys 13-11 in the third-place playoff.

Affies enjoyed a strong tournament, losing only once in the pool stage. They romped to a 9-2 win over the Pretoria Boys High School 2nd team, suffered a narrow 4-5 defeat to St John’s, and breezed to a 7-1 win over St Peter’s College.

Etienne Nortje was outstanding as the last line of defence for Affies and was named the Best Goalkeeper of the tournament.

Jeppe also lost only once in pool play, but they were then rolled 16-5 by St John’s in the semi-finals. St David’s Marist Inanda finished fifth, while the St John’s 2^nd team finished sixth, just ahead of the hoss, St Alban’s.

RESULTS

Friday, 6 September

St David’s Marist Inanda 7-4 PBHS 1st
Affies 8-5 St Alban’s 1st
St Peter’s 5-9 CBC Bulawayo
Reddam Helderfontein 4-10 St John’s 1st
St Alban’s 2nd 2-9 St Benedict’s
St Stithians 6-2 St David’s
Jeppe 7-6 St John’s 2nd
Affies 9 -2 PBHS 2nd
CBC Bulawayo 2-10 St John’s 1st
St Peter’s 15-8 Reddam Helderfontein
St Alban’s 2nd 2-14 St Stithians
St Benedict’s 6-10 Jeppe
PBHS 1st 5-6 St John’s 1st
St Alban’s 1st 9-2 PBHS 2nd
St John’s 1st 5-4 Affies
St Stithians 13-5 Jeppe
PBHS 1st (1) 4-4 (3) St Benedict’s
St Alban’s 8-4 Reddam Helderfontein
CBC Zim 10-8 PBHS 2nd

Saturday, 7 September

PBHS 2nd 5 -10 Peter’s
St Stithians 7-2 PBHS 1st
St David’s 10-3 St Benedict’s
Reddam Helderfontein 2-9 CBC Bulawayo
St John’s 1st 13-3 St Alban’s
Affies 7-1 St Peter’s
St John’s 2nd 11-4 St Alban’s 2nd
Reddam Helderfontein 6-4 PBHS 2nd
St Benedict’s 1-9 St Stithians
PBHS 1st 9-2 St Alban’s 2nd
St David’s 4-5 Jeppe
Affies 10-2 CBC Zim
St John’s 16- 5 PBHS 2nd
St Alban’s 1st 8-3 St Peter’s
St David’s 9-0 St John’s 2nd
Jeppe 15-0 St Alban’s 2nd
St Alban’s 1st 10- 7 CBC Bulawayo
Affies 10-6 Reddam Helderfontein
St John’s 0-9 St Stithians
St David’s 10-5 St Alban’s
St Peter’s 3-10 St John’s
Jeppe 7-1 PBHS 1st
St John’s 2nd 8-4 St Benedict’s
Reddam Helderfontein 6-7 PBHS 1st
St Peter’s 4-10 St Benedict’s
CBC Bulawayo 8-10 St John’s 2nd
St Alban’s 1st 3-7 St David’s
Affies 10-15 St Stithians
St John’s 1st 16 -5 Jeppe

Sunday, 8 September

PBHS 2nd 14-6 St Alban’s
Reddam Helderfontein 9-7 St Peter’s
PBHS 1st 11-16 St Benedict’s
CBC Bulawayo 10-13 St Alban’s
St John’s 2nd 6-10 St David’s
Jeppe 11-13 Affies
St John’s 1st 16-13 St Stithians

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Vuyo Ndudane

Vuyo Ndudane is a Sport Management and Journalism graduate from the Vaal University of Technology and the University of South Africa. She has experience as a content producer for Mhlobo Wenene FM sport show, currently working as a Sport Multimedia Controller, Researcher and multiple sport freelance writer under the wings of Sport Journalist. She admires Kyle Walker and Vinicius Jnr. She's just a lover of sport and trying to change the perception of Women's Sport in South Africa - one article a time.