The annual St Andrew’s Shield Water Polo Tournament took place in Grahamstown on Saturday and Sunday 22 and 23 February.
The annual St Andrew’s Shield Water Polo Tournament took place in Grahamstown on Saturday and Sunday 22 and 23 February.
A total of 22 teams took part this year, including a number of highly rated teams from outside the Eastern Cape – Clifton School from Durban, St David’s Marist and Crawford College from Johannesburg, and Reddam House from Cape Town.
The tournament was split into the Shield competition for the top 8 sides, and the Plate competition for the remaining 14 sides.
The competition was fierce, and the quality of water polo on display, particularly in the Shield tournament, was extremely high.
The St Andrew’s 1sts drew their opening pool game against Pearson 7–7, producing a thrilling comeback aftertrailing 4–7 with three minutes remaining.
They beat St David’s 10–3 in their second game, and in their final pool game in front of a capacity home crowd, produced an outstanding performance to match the electric atmosphere as they beat defending champions, Reddam, 7–4.
The win saw St Andrew’s finish top of their pool, advancing directly to the semi-finals.
The Plate competition was closely contested, with Hudson Park beating Grey PE 2nds 5 – 2 in the final, and St Andrew’s 2nds finishing 3rd with a penalty shoot-out win over Selborne 2nds after their play-off had finished in a 5–5 draw.
In the quarter-finals of the Shield tournament, Reddam beat Pearson on penalties, after the match was drawn 5–5, and Clifton overpowered Crawford 18–4 to set up a mouthwatering encounter with the hosts, St Andrew’s, in the semi-final.
The semi-finals produced some top quality water polo, with Grey defeating Reddam 7–2 and Clifton coming through an outstanding encounter against St Andrew’s, winning 8–5.
St Andrew’s went on to win the 3rd place play-off against Reddam 7–3.
Clifton showed their quality in the final, controlling the game and shutting down the dangerous Grey attack, eventually winning the match 4 – 0, and with it, the St Andrew’s Shield for the first time.
The tournament side announced at the conclusion of the tournament included three players from Clifton (Nicholas Downes, Wyatt Edwards and Dayne Jagga), four players from Grey (Greg Aubin, Jason Evezard, Connor Timm and Jeremy Ward), three players from St Andrew’s (Matt Andrews, Max Kieser and Mathew Stopforth), two players from Reddam (Ryan Brodie and David Rom), and Pearson's Matthew Petzer.
