Western Province u16s bulldoze their way to the top
Western Province u16A made light work of their opposition in their first two games at the 2024 edition of the Schools Water Polo South Africa Inter-Provincial Tournament in Buffalo City on Sunday. The tournament runs through until 11 December.
Province has been so good in front of goal that they have two of the top three goal-scorers in the tournament after the opening day of action in the age group. Matthew Fenn tops the charts with nine goals to his name while Benjamin Bigara is in third place, with seven.
The Capetonians’ James Malan has scored three goals on the counterattack and leads all players in that statistic.
Coach Ross van Schoor’s side was beaten by KwaZulu-Natal in the final of last year’s event, and they arrived at Buffalo City with their sights set on going one better this time around.
They got matters off on the right foot. Bigara and Fenn slammed hattricks as Province trounced Central Gauteng B 13-4 in their opener. Timothy Young and James Malan struck twice each, while Alex Barrett, Caleb Hurley, and Aiden Turrell also made it onto the scoresheet.
Gauteng responded with a brace from Matthew Peacock and further goals from Tegan Fisher and Gui-Nam Chen. However, those four goals were not enough to challenge the 2023 runners-up.
Western Province’s performance against Central Gauteng B was, however, only a teaser of their capabilities. They were in white-hot form when they splashed into the pool to face Buffalo City. The home side headed into the tie hoping to improve on their showing in the age group’s opening match, an Eastern Cape showdown, which Nelson Mandela Bay edged 7-5.
Coach Khanyisa Mpumlwana watched from the poolside as the local side was dragged this way and that, like a ragdoll, by Western Province. Matthew Fenn fired six goals into the back of the net, while Benjamin Bigara netted four. James Malan registered a hattrick, and Alex Barrett, Connor Mortlock, James Pinnock, and Andrew Reynolds also scored.
Western Province scored 17 times in total and gave up only two goals in their big win over Buffalo City. Those two victories rocketed them to the top of Pool A.
Nelson Mandela Bay also recorded two victories, one over Buffalo City and the other over Central Gauteng B. However, their margins of victory were far tighter than those recorded by Western Province. They only just reached double figures in their contest against Central Gauteng B, although they posted a convincing 11-1 win but not even that 10-goal winning margin enabled them to close the goal-difference gap on Western Province A.
Zimbabwe swooped in and took pole position in Pool C after victories over Eden Districts and Eastern Gauteng. South Africa’s northern visitors kicked off their campaign with an 11-4 victory over Eden before decimating Eastern Gauteng 14-1. Those victories thrust them to the head of the class in their pool.
Eastern Gauteng headed into their tie against Zimbabwe with their morale boosted by a 16-1 trouncing of Northerns B, only for their hopes of topping the group to be deflated.
Pool C stragglers Northerns B and Eden Districts will kick off the action in the u16 section on Monday morning.
Results
Nelson Mandela Bay 7: Jed Paterson (2), Dane Paterson (2), Carter Rosser, Johan Moolman, Tiago Williams. Buffalo City 5: Daniel Woodin (3), Michael Russell, Nicholas du Toit.
KwaZulu Natal 13: Thomas Aylward (3), Thomas Francke (3), Levin Thom (2), Oliver Ludwig, Andrew Schnell, Taylor Seiler, Garrick Phillips, Keegan Vogt. Northerns A 8: Christiaan Truter (3), Ruan Engelbrecht (2), Ettienne van der Merwe, Joshua Bergh, Ben Swarts.
Zimbabwe 11: Blaise Scheepers (3), Patrick Duff (2), Bongani Dube (2), Tristan Harris, Daniel Oxden-Willows, Joshua Edwards, Tapfuma Taundi. Eden Districts 4: Luca Whitehead (3), Rorke Bubanj.
Western Province A 13: Benjamin Bigara (3), Matthew Fenn (3), James Malan (2), Timothy Young (2), Aiden Turrell, Alex Barrett, Caleb Harley. Central Gauteng B 4: Matthew Peacock (2), Gui-Nam Chen (1), Tegan Fisher.
Central Gauteng A 6: Ryan Morley (2), Craig Toet, Luke Shipway, Roan Wessels, Danilo Giuricich. Western Province B 1: Rupert Robinson.
Eastern Gauteng 16:Luke Laporte (6), Connor Cockroft (4), Matthew Craukamp (2), Daelan Brijmohun, Campbell Hustler, Daniel Rheeder, Samkelo Maphaphu. Northerns B 1: Stephan van Tonder.
Nelson Mandela Bay 11: Carter Rosser (3), Taye Colesky (2), Christian Chandler (2), Stefan Polderman (2), Dane Paterson, Adam Ball. Central Gauteng B 1: Brayden Macfie.
KwaZulu Natal 5: Thomas Francke (2), Musawenkosi Mponda, Garrick Phillips, Thomas Aylward. Central Gauteng A 6: Craig Toet (2), Danilo Guiricich (2), Ryan Morley, Aiden Khoury.
Zimbabwe 14: Blaise Scheepers (5), Nicholas Roukounis (2), Tapfuma Taundi (2), Troy Reed, Joshua Edwards, Liam Chicksen, Bongani Dube, Tristan Harris. Eastern Gauteng 1: Connor Cockroft.
Western Province A 17: Matthew Fenn (6), Benjamin Bigara (4), James Malan (3), Alex Barrett, Connor Mortlock, James Pinnock, Andrew Reynolds. Buffalo City 2: Cullen Mortlock, Daniel Woodin.
Western Province B 5: Cole Abrahams (2), Ross Prinsloo, Christopher McLagan, Rupert Robinson. Northerns A 9: Ettienne van der Merwe (3), Oliver Oberholzer, Caleb Bowden, Joshua Bergh, Liam Joao-Palm, Adran Robinson, Siwon Lee.
