{"id":65803,"date":"2025-03-01T06:38:44","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T04:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=65803"},"modified":"2025-03-01T06:38:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-01T04:38:44","slug":"five-teams-dominate-opening-day-of-kes-water-polo-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=65803","title":{"rendered":"Five teams dominate opening day of KES Water Polo Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo:
Photo: TeamPhoto SA<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The highly anticipated King Edward VII (KES) Water Polo Tournament<\/a><\/strong> delivered some eye-opening results and exciting water polo on Friday in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

Now into its 42nd edition, the prestigious event has welcomed many of South Africa’s best water polo-playing schools to the Mark Stevens Aquatic Centre<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The action continues into Sunday, 2 March, and the action is LIVE on SuperSport Schools<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

On an interesting day that delivered close results, thrilling encounters, and top-class water polo, only five teams – Rondebosch Boys’ High<\/strong>, Bishops<\/strong>, South African College High School (SACS)<\/strong>, Kearsney College<\/strong>, and Hilton College <\/strong>– were unbeaten just two matches into the tournament.<\/p>\n

The Western Cape trio, who are drawn in different groups, were impressive, with SACS causing early shockwaves.\u00a0Coach Devon Card<\/strong>‘s side has been in shaky form in 2025 and underperformed in the recently concluded SACS Nite Series<\/strong>.\u00a0They had to put their early season woes aside heading into the KES Tournament, and they did that in emphatic style.<\/p>\n

In their opening match, they thumped Pretoria Boys High<\/strong> 13-4 before stunning St John’s College<\/strong> 14-9.<\/p>\n

Aidan Turrell<\/strong>, who has been in fine form in front of goal, scored four times against St John’s, while Jandro Rojo-Ross<\/strong> netted seven goals and Ben Bigara<\/strong> scored a brace. Luca Orgill<\/strong> completed the scoring to seal the win for his side.<\/p>\n

Rondebosch and Bishops were also in good form on the opening day but were made to work hard for their wins.<\/p>\n

Defending champions, ‘Bosch<\/a><\/strong> scored a whopping 21 goals in their two matches. They edged out Selborne College<\/strong> 8-6 before sneaking past Jeppe High School for Boys<\/strong> 13-12.<\/p>\n

Bishops, meanwhile, dominated their opener, beating Northwood School<\/strong> 14-5, but they were taken to penalties in their second match by St Stithians College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It had ended 8-8 after regular time, but Bishops survived by the skin of their teeth, winning 3-2 in the penalty shootout.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: TeamPhoto SA<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kearsney and Hilton College also introduced themselves in style at the Mark Stevens Aquatic Centre.<\/p>\n

They were the top KwaZulu-Natal performers after Northwood, Westville<\/strong>, and Clifton<\/strong> found the going tough on the opening day.<\/p>\n

Kearsney breezed past Westville, cruising to a 15-8 win in their opener. Thomas Francke<\/strong> scored four goals and was joined on the scoreboard by Thomas Aylward<\/strong> and skipper James Pohl<\/a><\/strong>, who both scored hattricks.\u00a0Levi Thom<\/strong> and Luca Sandri<\/strong> also struck twice each as Kearsney won comfortably.<\/p>\n

In their second match, coach Nicholas Rodda<\/strong>\u2019s troops weren’t at their best. Still, they managed to\u00a0grind out a hard-fought 12-11 victory over KES.<\/p>\n

Their provincial counterparts, Hilton, were in rampant form. Coach Paul Martin<\/strong>‘s boys are playing like a team with a point to prove, and they scored 26 goals while conceding only three.<\/p>\n

Hilton began their tournament impressively by blanking St John’s College 8-0. Then, in their second match, they overpowered Pretoria Boys High 18-3.<\/p>\n

They’re tied for the top spot in Pool D with SACS, with both teams on six points. They’re set to do battle early on Saturday afternoon for first place in the group ahead of the knockout stages.<\/p>\n

Another big result on Friday was a 3-2 win on penalties for Jeppe<\/strong> against Clifton College after the sides had shared an 8-8 draw.<\/p>\n

The second day\u2019s action will kick off bright and early with a clash between St Andrew’s College and Bishops at 07:00.<\/p>\n

DAY 1 RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

St Stithians College 7-6 St Andrew’s College
\nKearsney College 15-8 Westville
\nSelborne College 8-6 Rondebosch
\nHilton College 8-0 St John’s College
\nBishops 14-5 Northwood
\nKES 10-9 Paul Roos
\nClifton College (2) 8-8 (3) Jeppe
\nSACS 14-2 Pretoria Boys High
\nBishops (3) 8-8 (2) St Stithians
\nPaul Roos 7-5 Westville
\nSelborne College 9-6 Clifton College
\nSACS 14-9 St John’s College
\nSt Andrew’s 7-3 Northwood
\nKearsney 12-11 KES
\nRondebosch 13-12 Jeppe
\nHilton College 18-3 Pretoria Boys High<\/p>\n

Day 2 fixtures<\/strong><\/p>\n

07:00<\/strong> – St Andrew’s vs Bishops; 07:50<\/strong> – Kearsney vs Paul Roos; 08:40<\/strong> – Clifton vs Rondebosch; 09:30<\/strong> – St John’s College vs Pretoria Boys High; 10:20<\/strong> – St Stithians vs Northwood; 11:10<\/strong> – KES vs Westville; 12:00<\/strong> – Jeppe vs Selborne College; 12:50<\/strong> – SACS vs Hilton College; 13:40<\/strong> – 3rd Pool A vs 4th Pool B (Plate Quarterfinal 1); 14:10<\/strong> – 3rd Pool B vs 4th Pool A (Plate Quarterfinal 1); 14:40<\/strong> – 3rd Pool C vs 4th Pool D (Plate Quarterfinal 1); 15:10<\/strong> – 3rd Pool D vs 4th Pool C (Plate Quarterfinal 1); 15:40<\/strong> – 1st Pool A vs 2nd Pool B (Cup Quarterfinal 1); 16:30<\/strong> – 1st Pool B vs 2nd Pool A (Cup Quarterfinal 2); 17:20<\/strong> – 1st Pool C vs 2nd Pool D (Cup Quarterfinal 3); 18:10<\/strong> – 1st Pool D vs 2nd Pool C (Cup Quarterfinal 4); 19:00<\/strong> – Plate Playoff; 19:30<\/strong> – Plate Playoff; 20:00<\/strong> – Cup Playoff; 20:30<\/strong> – Cup Playoff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The highly anticipated King Edward VII (KES) Water Polo Tournament delivered some eye-opening results and exciting water polo on Friday in Johannesburg. Now into its 42nd edition, the prestigious event has welcomed many of South Africa’s best water polo-playing schools to the Mark Stevens Aquatic Centre. The action continues into Sunday, 2 March, and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":65873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65803","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\/65803","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=65803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/65873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}