{"id":60139,"date":"2024-10-26T19:46:44","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T17:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=60139"},"modified":"2024-10-26T19:46:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T17:46:44","slug":"bishops-to-battle-kearsney-for-saints-invitational-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=60139","title":{"rendered":"Bishops to battle Kearsney for Saints Invitational title"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo:
Photo: Debbi Adcock Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New champions will be crowned at the St Stithians College Invitational Water Polo Tournament<\/a><\/strong> after Bishops Diocesan College<\/strong> and Kearsney College<\/strong> booked their spots in the final of the prestigious tournament on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Catch all the action LIVE<\/strong> on SuperSport Schools<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bishops came into the event looking to make history<\/a><\/strong>, having never won the tournament before. Meanwhile, Kearsney College was brimming with confidence after recently claiming top honours at the KZN Top 10 Water Polo Tournament<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Both teams were dominant leading up to the play-offs. Bishops were drawn in Group B and breezed past their opponents on the opening two days.\u00a0During the group stages, coach Jabulani Sibiya<\/strong>‘s team scored a mammoth 57 goals in four matches and conceded only 18.<\/p>\n

In the quarterfinal, they eliminated last year’s champions, SACS<\/strong>, beating coach Devon Card<\/strong>‘s side 14-10 to progress to a semifinal showdown with Hilton College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It was filled with drama. After a slow start, the fixture came to life in the second half. Bishops led 3-1 at the halfway mark, but coach Jason Sileno<\/strong>‘s message at the break must’ve inspired his Hilton team.<\/p>\n

The KwaZulu-Natal boys staged a strong comeback after conceding goals to Timothy Young<\/strong>, Luke Cartwright<\/strong>, and James Malan<\/strong>. They refused to let Bishops get away and, despite Harry Ford<\/strong>‘s brace, Hilton kept clawing their way back into the contest.<\/p>\n

They levelled at 6-6 with time winding down and a penalty shootout beckoning. Bishops, however, avoided the shootout, scoring with only seconds left through Cartwright\u00a0<\/strong>to snatch a hard-fought win.<\/p>\n

In the second semifinal, Kearsney College<\/strong> tackled St John’s College<\/strong>. Kearsney, like Bishops, had won all four of their group stage matches in a very tough pool, which included Hilton and SACS, while St John’s finished second in group B.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Debbi Adcock Photography<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Coach Nick Rodda<\/strong>‘s side, on their way to the last four, beat SACS 10-8, their provincial rivals, Hilton College, 7-5, and Jeppe High School for Boys<\/strong> 11-8. In the quarterfinals, they scored an 11-9 win over St Andrew’s College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

They were pushed hard by St John’s in their semifinal but showed off their mettle to again emerge the victors after a tremendous tussle, this time by an 8-7 margin.<\/p>\n

Thomas Francke<\/strong> led the charge for Kearsney early in the first chukka when he scored two goals for his team.\u00a0In the second chukka, James Pohl<\/strong> added another for the Botha’s Hill boys, but they found themselves 3-4 down at the break.<\/p>\n

The KwaZulu-Natal outfit came out firing in the second half, scoring three times through\u00a0Luca Sandri<\/strong>, Levi Thom<\/strong>, and Pohl, who bagged a brace.<\/p>\n

Despite being pushed to their limits by a resilient St John’s outfit, Kearsney clinched the win in the final chukka, with Francke notching a hattrick before Robert Smith<\/strong> scored in the dying seconds to win it.<\/p>\n

Kearsney will face Bishops in the final at 12:40, while St John’s and Hilton will play in the bronze medal match at 09:20.<\/p>\n

Boys | Day 3 Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

St Andrew’s College 8-5<\/strong> King Edward VII
\nSt John’s College 10-7<\/strong> Durban High School
\nHilton College 12-11<\/strong> Reddam House Constantia
\nSACS 5-4<\/strong> St Stithians College
\nMichaelhouse 9-4<\/strong> Affies
\nGrey High School 9-4<\/strong> Pearson High School
\nPretoria Boys High 10-9<\/strong> Grey College
\nJeppe High School for Boys\u00a0 12-2<\/strong> St Alban’s College
\nAffies 13-3<\/strong> Grey College
\nPearson High School 4-3<\/strong> St Alban’s College
\nKing Edward VII 12-6<\/strong> Reddam House Constantia
\nSt Stithians College 4-3<\/strong> Durban High School
\nSACS 6-3<\/strong> Rondebosch Boys’ High
\nSt Andrew’s College 6-9<\/strong> St David’s Marist Inanda<\/p>\n

Quarterfinals<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hilton College 10-7<\/strong> Rondebosch Boy’s High
\nBishops 14-10<\/strong> SACS
\nKearsney College 11-9<\/strong> St Andrew’s College
\nSt John’s College 6-2<\/strong> St David\u2019s Marist Inanda<\/p>\n

Semifinals<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bishops 7-6<\/strong> Hilton College
\nKearsney College 8-7<\/strong> St John’s College<\/p>\n

Day 4 | Fixtures<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saints Olympic North\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

06:00 – Grey College vs St Alban’s College
\n07:40- Reddam House Constantia vs Durban High School
\n09:20- SACS vs St David’s Marist Inanda<\/p>\n

Saints Olympic South\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

06:00- Affies vs Pearson High
\n07:40- Michaelhouse vs Jeppe High School for Boys
\n09:20- Rondebosch Boys’ High vs St Andrew’s College<\/p>\n

Saints Pool<\/strong><\/p>\n

06:00- Pretoria Boys High vs Grey High School
\n07:40-King Edward VII vs St Stithians College
\n09:20- St John’s College vs Hilton College – 3rd\/4th
\n12:40 Bishops Diocesan vs Kearsney College – Final<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New champions will be crowned at the St Stithians College Invitational Water Polo Tournament after Bishops Diocesan College and Kearsney College booked their spots in the final of the prestigious tournament on Saturday. Catch all the action LIVE on SuperSport Schools Bishops came into the event looking to make history, having never won the tournament […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":60156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60139","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\/60139","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\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}