St Stithians and St David’s crowned 2025 Reef Cup champions
The Reef Cup Water Polo Invitational Tournament ended on Sunday afternoon at the St Stithians Aquatic Centre with Saints clinching the girls’ title and St David’s Marist Inanda winning the boys’ event, both by two goals.
It was tight, but St Stithians lifted the girls’ trophy for a ninth consecutive time after a hard-fought 9-7 win over Reddam House Bedfordview.
“I am very happy,” Saints’ coach Megan Sileno declared after her side’s victory.
“We have met Reddam House Bedfordview twice now in our season. We narrowly lost to them at Kingswood in the semi-finals [of the Brian Baker Water Polo Tournament].
“We also had a very nice league game against them. We came out [as the winners], I think by one, and then to meet them in the final, they are always such a nice team to play against. There is no drama, no issue, nothing. It is good water polo, and I am very very happy with the team’s results.”
The final produced a back-and-forth contest from the first whistle to the last. Saints edged into the lead, but Reddam House Bedfordview kept reeling them in. In the fourth chukka, Reddam trailed 4-7, but they pulled within one by striking twice. St Stithians, though, kept their composure and hit back to eventually pull off a 9-7 victory.
Reflecting on the game, Sileno said she has worked hard at handling pressure situations. “It has taken a lot of practice, a lot of years to maintain composure,” she said. “If your coach is losing her mind on the side of the pool, the players just follow suit, so they kind of take your lead. So, staying calm and trying to think of different options to break whatever is being done on the other side’s defence, it comes with a little more experience than just winging it.”
In the third-place playoff, Beaulieu College held on for a 7-6 win over St Dominic’s Catholic School for Girls. Zimbabwe’s Hellenic Academy finished fifth after a convincing 5-1 win over Kingsmead College.
Despite the loss, Masibonge Namba, Kingsmead’s head coach, lauded her players, saying: “For us to make the top eight in this tournament is great for our school.”
Reddam House Umhlanga took seventh place after cruising to an 8-1 victory over Falcon College.
In the boys’ competition, St David’s Marist Inanda staged a battling fightback to overcome Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affies) to claim the title with a 10-8 victory.
In the opening chukka, Affies was onto the score sheet first, but St David’s levelled to make it 1-1 at the end of the quarter.
The second chukka belonged to Affies, who outscored St David’s 3-1 to take a 4-2 lead into the halftime break. St David’s needed to reverse the momentum and they responded well with an outstanding third chukka that saw them move from a two-goal deficit into a one-goal lead at 6-5.
With the bit between their teeth, coach Dean Whyte‘s charges extended their advantage by a further goal in the final chukka to secure their second title of 2025 after winning the Vides Water Polo Tournament title two weeks earlier.
“I am ecstatic,” Whyte admitted after the final. “It’s great! The boys have been working hard, and it is nice to win.
“The last time we played, at Vides two weeks’ ago, and no one really looked at St David’s. We won that tournament and came back over here, and everybody is like yeah, St David’s.
“It is difficult when you have a massive target on your back, but those guys over there,” he said, pointing at his players, “are the guys who are workhorses. They were unbelievable today.”
Commenting on how his players managed to seize control of the contest in the second half, Whyte said: “There is no point in putting more pressure on the players. The boys are achievers. They know that there is work to follow, so it was a tactical change that played in our favour.”
Affies, the ITEC Grey College Water Polo Tournament champions, gave St David’s all they could handle. Though his team lost, Affies’ coach Juan-Claud Tribelhorn said he was proud of his charges.
“I am very proud of the boys. We started very well. We got into the lead. Yeah, it is tough to lose that way but I am very proud of the boys. I could not be any prouder.
“They played their hearts out, and that is how you learn, and it’s the games we would want to play. We would love to play more of these games, maybe we can be invited to the King Edward VII Tournament.”
“We are getting there with our players,” he added. “Our senior players are standing up when they need to, and they take control of the game and the youngsters.
“And the tournament is well run. These are long days. It’s not that ideal to travel from Pretoria, but we love this tournament and, if we are here next year, who knows, we may go for gold,” he told SuperSport Schools Plus.
In the battle for the bronze, Michaelhouse edged out Durban High School (DHS) 6-5 in a KZN clash, while Woodridge College beat St Benedict’s College 7-5 in the fifth-place playoff.
In another tight match, St Alban’s College claimed a narrow 4-3 win over Zimbabwe’s Hellenic Academy to finish seventh.
RESULTS
GIRLS
G63: 19th/20th (L53/L54): Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool Pretoria 7-6 Pretoria High School for Girls
G64: 17th/18th (W53/W54): Rand Park 10 -9 Reddam House Helderfontein
G65: 15th/16th (L57/L58): Steyn City 7-6 Parktown Girls’ High
G66: 13th/14th (W57/W58): Maris Stella 5-9 Tournament Inv.
G67: 11th/12th (L55/L56): St Peter’s College 12-6 Crawford College Lonehill
G68: 9th/10th (W55/W56): Durban Girls’ College 1-4 Woodridge College
G69: 7th/8th (L61/L60): Falcon College 1-8 Reddam House Umhlanga
G70: 5th/6th (W61/W60): Hellenic Academy 5-1 Kingsmead College
G71: 3rd/4th (L62/L59): St Dominic’s 6-7 Beaulieu College
G72: 1st/2nd (W62/W59): St Stithians 9-7 Reddam House Bedfordview
BOYS
G63: 19th/20th (L53/L54): Rand Park 8-9 Reddam House Umhlanga
G64: 17th/18th (W53/W54): Beaulieu College 9 -13 Parktown Boys’ High
G65: 15th/16th (L57/L59): Reddam House Helderfontein 8-6 Glenwood High
G66: 13th/14th (W57/W59): Falcon College 12-13 Reddam House Bedfordview
G67: 11th/12th (L55/L56): St Peter’s College 5-7 Steyn City
G68: 9th/10th (W55/W56): Maritzburg College 11-5 Grey College
G69: 7th/8th (L62/L61): St Alban’s 4-3 Hellenic Academy
G70: 5th/6th (W62/W61): St Benedict’s 5-7 Woodridge
G71: 3rd/4th (L60/L58): Michaelhouse 6-5 DHS
G72: 1st/2nd (W60/W58): St David’s Marist 10-8 Affies
