Top guns storm into quarterfinals despite weather chaos
There were no surprises on Monday, day three of the South African Schools Water Polo Inter-Provincial Tournament (IPT), as four of the top u19 boys’ teams booked their places in the quarterfinals.
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It was a long day at the Jubilee Pool at St David’s Marist Inanda, with a number of matches being delayed due to lightning. Some teams, however, escaped the bad weather, with Central Gauteng A, Western Province A (WP) and Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) making a splash in the morning session.
Central Gauteng A, the defending champions, defeated the Aussie Crocs 20-10, while Western Province A downed KwaZulu-Natal A 12-8 in a key clash, and NMB edged out Central Gauteng B 10-8.
After a nervy start on Saturday, Central Gauteng A found its mojo on Sunday. On Monday, the home side functioned like a well-oiled machine.
They produced a clinical performance to double up the unpredictable Crocs, with James Crick and Aiden Khoury scoring hat-tricks, and Harry Wilkins, Erik Arwidi, Nicholas Searle, Connor McJannet, and Cooper Haworth all netting twice.
That impressive result put to bed any doubts about whether or not Central Gauteng A is a serious contender for the title and the performance left head coach Jon-Marc De Carvalho pleased with his side.
“We started a bit slowly, but I think the team has progressed nicely,” he told SuperSport Schools Plus.
“On Saturday, NMB came out firing, and their crowd was behind them, and that caught our guys off-guard, but that was a good wake-up call.
“The boys stepped up against Buffalo City. We are progressing. I told them that we don’t need to be playing our best ‘polo on the first day. We need to be playing it on the last day.”
The hosts will face Western Province B in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. De Carvalho said they’re not taking any team lightly.
“The tournament really starts tomorrow,” he reckoned. “There are two big games – the quarters and possibly the semis – and if we win both, we w
ill be in the grand final on Wednesday, but it won’t be easy.”
Earlier in the day, Western Province A also secured automatic qualification after outplaying a strong KZN side.
The boys from Cape Town were impressive. They took their chances in front of goal, and restricted KZN with a strong defensive display.
Matt Fenn, Tim Young, and captain Jandro Rojo-Roos contributed 10 goals between them, while Benjamin Bigara, Luke Burger, and Blake Brown were also on the scoresheet.
For KZN, Thomas Francke and Jamie Nicolau bagged braces, while Nathan Burger, Thomas Aylward, Drew Hollingsworth, and Sebastian Laudenberg also scored.
Coach Rob Ambler‘s charges made it an interesting contest, but Province delivered the final blow in the fourth chukka to seal the win.
“We knew it was going to be a tough battle, but we had scores to settle from when we played them last year,” coach Devon Card said after the match.
“All the talk was about being mentally switched on and making sure we don’t lose focus in our prep for the game.
“KZN teams are dangerous. We had to make them work for all their goals and keep the tempo up from start to finish. Overall, I’m very happy with the performance today. We ticked a lot of boxes.”
Western Province A finished the group stage unbeaten and top of Pool A. They’ll tackle Buffalo City in the last eight after Buffalo City beat KwaZulu-Natal B in a cross-pool playoff.
“In the knockout stage, every game you treat like a final regardless of who you’re playing against,” Card emphasised.
“As I’ve said, there are no easy games at IPT. We must make sure we don’t drop our standards, be more ruthless in transition moments, and have the killer instinct.”
Ahead of the tournament, Nelson Mandela Bay carried a “dark horses” tag, and they’ve lived up to it, bringing some excitement to the event.
After a strong showing on Saturday against Central Gauteng A, they defeated Buffalo City in an Eastern Cape derby on Sunday before scoring a 10-8 win over a motivated Central Gauteng B outfit on Monday to finish second in their pool.
It was far from a perfect outing for coach Daniel Ward‘s troops, but a solid first half provided the foundation for their win.
Dane Paterson was in a league of his own, scoring five times, while Carter Rosser and Spencer Adshade both found the back of the net twice. The St Andrew’s College duo of Calum Emslie and Coel Trollip were also on the scoresheet.
“I’m happy that we are through to the quarters. That’s the first milestone we wanted to achieve,” Ward said after the clash with Central Gauteng B. “In this game, we were in control after the third chukka, but we lost that control in the last chukka. The boys panicked, and the pressure got to them.
“We have built good momentum, but, again, there’s a lot to work on. The quarters and semis are high-pressure games, and we need to be clinical in the small areas.”
NMB will face Northerns for a place in the semifinals.
Despite going down to Western Province A in the first match of the day, KZN also progressed to the last eight with two wins from three matches. They’ll square off against Central Gauteng B at 09:10 on Tuesday.
RESULTS
Western Province A 12: Matt Fenn (4), Tim Young (3), Jandro Rojo-Roos (3), Benjamin Bigara (1), Luke Burger (1). KwaZulu-Natal A 8: Thomas Francke (2), Jamie Nicolau (2), Nathan Burger (1), Thomas Aylward (1), Drew Hollingsworth (1), Sebastian Laudenberg (1).
Eastern Gauteng 10: Dylan Kempen (3), Riley Nienaber (2), Ethan Kempen (2), Travis Kempen (1), Dino Binks (1), Yuhui Xiao (1). Zimbabwe 8: Tapfuma Taundi (2), Blaise Scheepers (2), Daniel Oxden-Willows (2), Joshua Edwards (1), Donovan Bodington (1).
Central Gauteng A 20: James Crick (4), Aiden Khoury (3), Harry Wilkins (2), Erik Arwidi (2), Nicholas Searle (2), Connor McJannet (2), Cooper Haworth (2), Danilo Giuricich (1), Chris Chapman (1), Fu-Nam Chen (1). Aussie Crocs 10: Benjamin Spall (4), William Plowman (2), Hudson Dilkes (2), Harry Colley (1), Jack Plowman (1).
Nelson Mandela Bay 10: Dane Paterson (4), Carter Rosser (2), Spencer Adshade (2), Callum Emslie (1), Coel Trollip (1). Central Gauteng B 8: Ryan Morley (2), Craig Toet (2), Mukjetwa Maemu (1), Matthew Cross (1), Luke Shipway (1), David Latilla-Campbell (1).
Northern Gauteng 11: Christiaan Truter (3), Francois Hartslief (2), Oliver Oberholzer (2), Joshua Bergh (1), Ettiene van der Merwe (1), Ruan Engelbrecht (1), Gert Pretorius (1). Western Province B 8: James Pinnock (4), Connor Mortlock (1), Joshua Ripsold (1), Harry Oldham (1), Alex Barrett (1).
Eden Districts 16: William Tindall (7), Luca Whitehead (5), Rorke Bubanj (2), Matthew Eickhaus (2). Eastern Gauteng 8: Dino Binks (2), Dylan Kempen (2), Riley Nienaber (2), Apostoli Apostoleris (1), Travis Kempen (1).
KwaZulu-Natal B 5: Kyle Human (3), Tane Greene, Oliver van der Merwe. Buffalo City 5: Thomas Casewell (3), Daniel Woodin, Joshua Lentz.
Western Province B 11: Connor Mortlock (2), Nicholas Wilson (2), Alex Barrett (2), Harry Oldham (2), James Pinnock, Umr Firfirey, Colin Douglass. Zimbabwe 7: Daniel Oxden-Willows (4), Tapfuma Taundi, Blaise Scheepers, Donovan Bodington.
Aussie Crocs 14: Harry Colley (6), James Martin (3), Hudson Dilkes, Benjamin Spall, Joseph Gallagher, Bonguthixo Cibane, Thomas Elliott. Buffalo City 7: Thomas Caswell (3), Daniel Woodin (3), Matthew Wiseman.
Eden Districts 11: Luca Whitehead (4), Rorke Bubanj (4), Matthew Tindall (2), Jacob Hersch. Eastern Gauteng 8: Dyaln Kempen (3), Travis Kempen, Yuhui Xiao, Matthew Craukamp, Ethan Kempen, Riley Nienaber.
Fixtures, Tuesday, 9 December
07:00 – Central Gauteng A vs Western Province B (Quarterfinal 1)
07:15 – KwaZulu-Natal B vs Zimbabwe @KES
08:05 – Nelson Mandela Bay vs Northern Gauteng (Quarterfinal 2)
09:10 – Central Gauteng B vs KwaZulu-Natal A (Quarterfinal 3)
10:15 – Western Province vs Buffalo City (Quarterfinal 4)
11:20 – Eden vs KwaZulu-Natal B
12:25 – Nelson Mandela Bay vs Aussie Crocs
13:30 – Eastern Gauteng vs Zimbabwe
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