{"id":31283,"date":"2023-12-11T20:12:43","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T18:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=31283"},"modified":"2023-12-11T20:12:43","modified_gmt":"2023-12-11T18:12:43","slug":"central-gauteng-a-end-kwazulu-natal-as-unbeaten-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=31283","title":{"rendered":"Central Gauteng A ends KwaZulu-Natal A\u2019s unbeaten run"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"When the fixture list for the\u00a02023 Schools Water Polo South Africa Inter-Provincial Tournament<\/strong>\u00a0was released, the match of the pool stages was clear. It would be the defending champions,\u00a0Central Gauteng A<\/strong>\u00a0vs\u00a0KwaZulu-Natal A<\/strong>, and on Monday the two teams delivered on the promise of a thrilling contest.<\/p>\n

Around the packed pool at\u00a0Grey High<\/strong>, the electricity in the air was tangible. This was clearly a step up from anything that had taken place in the tournament thus far.<\/p>\n

Central Gauteng A had achieved slightly larger margins of victory than KZN A throughout the pool stages but expecting them to win based on that statistic was not a safe bet.<\/p>\n

From the start, there was little in it and the first chukka went back and forth, with the teams ending it level. Then, in the second chukka, Central Gauteng edged 5-3 ahead before a last-second goal pulled the boys from KZN to within one of their rivals at the break.<\/p>\n

During half-time,\u00a0Gauteng coach Jon-Marc De Carvalho<\/strong>\u00a0stressed to his charges the importance of winning the third chukka. They duly went out and turned his words into action. \u201cWe really controlled it and stopped them from scoring. We scored one or two, and we gave ourselves a buffer, which was great,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In the Central Gauteng goal,\u00a0Ben Scher<\/strong>\u00a0delivered a lights-out performance, twice saving KZN penalties at crucial times in the match, which could have swung the momentum in captain\u00a0Stef Swart<\/strong>\u00a0and company\u2019s favour. Instead, those huge stops served to buoy the Central Gauteng spirits.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cHe was on fire,\u201d De Carvalho said. \u201cHe\u2019s been putting in the extra graft. When a \u2018keeper wants to do swims with the guys, putting in extra time, sitting in goals and asking guys to stay late after practice, [it shows his total commitment]. Doing all that extra work has made him, if not the best [goalkeeper], one of the best in this tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

After watching his players rise to the occasion and deliver an excellent performance in a charged atmosphere, which brought them a 9-6 win, De Carvalho said: \u201cThey were really up for it, and I am really proud of them. It was a tough challenge. I have to give credit to KZN, they really came out hard, and I was super proud of how the boys held up. They were brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Central Gauteng A, before the KZN A clash, had been scoring left, right and centre, overwhelming teams with their energetic, smothering defence and swift counterattacks, so it was a credit to Jason Sileno<\/strong>\u2018s boys that no Central Gauteng player managed more than two goals. Seven players made it onto the scoresheet, however. And that\u2019s what won it for the defending champions: a complete team performance from a very fit and focused squad.<\/p>\n

They were beaten, but KZN A will move on confident that it is a result that they could turn around if given another shot at Central Gauteng A in the playoffs; there is not much between the sides.<\/p>\n

\"\"There was another game that caught the imagination on Monday, and it was the meeting of\u00a0Nelson Mandela Bay<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Western Province B<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Sunday had been a miserable day for the hosts, who lost twice, getting crushed by\u00a0Western Province A<\/strong>\u00a0and then going down to\u00a0Central Gauteng B<\/strong>\u00a0in a disappointing outing.<\/p>\n

On Monday, though, they were up for their head-to-head with Western Province B, who entered the match as the favourites. Nelson Mandela Bay, though, had their heads in the game and their intensity was far superior to Sunday\u2019s offering.<\/p>\n

Neither team was able to manufacture a decisive scoring burst, which left everything to play for in the fourth chukka. As time ran down, Nelson Mandela Bay thought they had scored a winner when they edged 10-9 in front, but Province B came firing back with a quick response.<\/p>\n

Then, with only 14 seconds left on the clock, the home team drew a loud roar out of the crowd by striking again. This time, there was no coming back for Western Province B, and Nelson Mandela Bay snatched a morale-boosting 11-10 victory.<\/p>\n

\"\"Their scoring was spread among eight players, with\u00a0Luke Mallett<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Tawfiq Akomolafe<\/strong>\u00a0both netting twice. Province B had only four scorers, with\u00a0Sebastiaan White<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Cosmo Enthoven<\/strong>\u00a0beating the home team\u2019s fine goalkeeper,\u00a0Oliver Klatte<\/strong>, three times each.<\/p>\n

KwaZulu-Natal B played two of the five games on the day\u2019s schedule and bolstered their record with a 13-9 win over the\u00a0Northern Tigers<\/strong>\u00a0and a 17-3 victory against\u00a0Eastern Gauteng<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Clifton College\u2019s 2024 Head Boy,\u00a0Ethan Lyne<\/strong>, had himself a game in the defeat of the Northern Tigers, making a real nuisance of himself in front of the net and scoring four times to go along with a steal.\u00a0Alexander Kelbrick<\/strong>\u00a0continued his strong scoring streak for the Tigers, adding another three to his impressive tally.\u00a0Blake Kruger<\/strong>, meanwhile, scored three for KZN B in both of their victories.<\/p>\n

In the only other match on day three, Central Gauteng B gave a good account of themselves against Pool B front-runners, Western Province, but the loaded team from the Cape came through to win 14-5, with\u00a0Noah Bigara<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Arkin Marais<\/strong>\u00a0both netting thrice.<\/p>\n

Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

KZN B 13-9 Northern Tigers<\/strong><\/p>\n

KZN B<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Ethan Lyne (4), Blake Kruger (3), Jared Byleveld (2), Kyron de Kock (2), Luca di Vinceno (2)
\nNorthern Tigers<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Alexander Kelbrick (3), Stephen Adams (2), Benjamin Melville (2), Julian Olivier (1), Gerrit Wessels (1)<\/p>\n

Nelson Mandela Bay 11-10 Western Province B<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nelson Mandela Bay<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Luke Mallett (2), Tawfiq Akomolafe (2), Salmaan Abrahams (1), Zack Willimott (1), Drew Stockill (1), Nicholas Franklin (1), Daniel de Lange (1), Jono Mackenzie (1)
\nWestern Province B<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Sebastiaan White (3), Cosmo Enthoven (3), Thomas Truter (2), Mac Lecuona (2)<\/p>\n

KwaZulu-Natal A 6-9 Central Gauteng A<\/strong><\/p>\n

KwaZulu-Natal A<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Oliver Ditz (2), Warwick Field (2), Meyer Malherbe (1), Mitchell Slade (1)
\nCentral Gauteng A<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Samuel Lister (2), Connor Flinn (2), Tristan Grimett (1), Marc Smith (1), Caleb van Loggerenberg (1), Nicholas Pearce (1), Anton Arwidi (1)<\/p>\n

Western Province A 14-5 Central Gauteng B<\/strong><\/p>\n

Western Province A<\/strong> \u2013 Noah Bigara (3), Arkin Marais (3), Nicholas Fall (2), Ben Reiback (2), Zack Cicero (1), Maximilian Mossop (1), Johannes Reyneke (1), Conor Melling-Williams
\nCentral Gauteng B<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Mark Hudson (1), Brogan McEwan (1), Zico Williams (1), Jack Wilkins (1), David Johnson (1)<\/p>\n

KwaZulu-Natal B 17-3 Eastern Gauteng<\/strong><\/p>\n

KwaZulu-Natal B<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Blake Kruger (3), Luca di Vincenzo (3), Mitchell Wilson (3), Marnu Koekemoer (2), Kyron de Kock (1), Jared Byleveld (1), Jack Slater (1), Josh Lortan (1), Blake Davidson (1), Ethan Lyne (1)
\nEastern Gauteng<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Robert Carr (1), Gabriel Cazzavillan (1), Cole Taylor (1)<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the fixture list for the\u00a02023 Schools Water Polo South Africa Inter-Provincial Tournament\u00a0was released, the match of the pool stages was clear. It would be the defending champions,\u00a0Central Gauteng A\u00a0vs\u00a0KwaZulu-Natal A, and on Monday the two teams delivered on the promise of a thrilling contest. Around the packed pool at\u00a0Grey High, the electricity in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":31287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}