St John’s, St Stithians set the pace at St Alban’s Beach Water Polo Tournament
The opening day of the 3rd Annual Beach Water Polo Tournament got underway at St Alban’s College, in Pretoria, on Friday. The event, which features eight men’s clubs’ teams, and 14 open age group schools’ teams, runs through until Sunday.
In Pool A, a familiar powerhouse, St John’s College, made a commanding start to their campaign, overpowering Parktown Boys’ High 19–0 before cruising to an 11-1 defeat of the Zimbabwean side, Christian Brothers College (CBC) Bulawayo.
Earlier in the day, CBC had opened their challenge with an impressive 12-5 win over St Peter’s College.
St Peter’s, though, bounced back in style, showing strong character in a determined 11-6 win over Parktown Boys’ High.
Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affies) played three tough matches and came away with two inspiring victories, defeating St Alban’s 8-5 and King Edward VII (KES) 7-3 before coming up short against St John’s, who improved their record to three from three with an 8-5 win.
After going down to Affies, St Alban’s showed resilience when they outlasted KES 6–5 in a nail-biter. That was followed by a 14-3 dismantling of Parktown. KES suffered two hard-fought defeats, but they came out on the right side of another closely contested clash, scoring an 8-5 win over CBC Bulawayo.
In Pool B, St Stithians College stamped their authority and staked their claim as the team to beat by going three for three. In their opener, a key clash against St David’s Marist Inanda, Saints came away with a 7-4 win.
They enjoyed a routine 12-4 victory over the St Alban’s 2nd team before wrapping up their assignments with a 9-5 win over Jeppe High School for Boys to finish the day comfortably on top of the group standings.
Jeppe ended the day in second spot, with Pretoria Boys High in third. Boys High beat the St John’s College 2nd team 6–2, but lost a nail-biter to St David’s, who snatched an 8-7 win in a tense, closely fought encounter. That victory left the Sandton school in fourth place after Friday’s action.
St Benedict’s College picked up a narrow 5–4 win over the St Alban’s 2nd team but came up short in their other fixtures.
POOLS
Pool A
St John’s College 1st team
Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool
St Alban’s College 1st team
King Edward VII School
St Peter’s College
Parktown Boys High School
Christian Brothers College Zimbabwe
Pool B
St Stithians College
Jeppe High School for Boys
St David’s Marist Inanda
Pretoria Boys High School
St Benedict’s College
St John’s College 2nd Team
St Alban’s College 2nd team
RESULTS
POOL A
Affies 8-5 St Alban’s
St Peter’s 5-12 CBC Bulawayo
Parktown 0-19 St John’s
Affies 7-3 KES
CBC Bulawayo 1-11 St John’s
St Peter’s 11-6 Parktown
St John’s 8-5 Affies
St Alban’s 6-5 KES
St Alban’s 14-3 Parktown
CBC Bulawayo 5-8 KES
POOL B
St David’s 8-7 Pretoria Boys High
St Alban’s 2nd team 4-5 St Benedict’s
St Stithians 7-4 St David’s
Jeppe 6-0 St John’s 2nd team
St Alban’s 2nd team 4-12 St Stithians
St Benedict’s 2-6 Jeppe
Pretoria Boys High 6-2 St John’s 2nd team
St Stithians 9-5 Jeppe
St John’s 2nd team 7-4 St Benedict’s
