{"id":83536,"date":"2025-09-23T08:52:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T06:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=83536"},"modified":"2025-09-23T08:52:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T06:52:00","slug":"sacs-hunting-a-third-straight-clifton-water-polo-tournament-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=83536","title":{"rendered":"SACS hunting a third-straight Clifton Water Polo Tournament title"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jandro
Jandro Rojo-Roos is one of the key players to keep an eye out for in the SACS team. Photo: Toni Butterworth<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A simple and structured brand of water polo is what South African College High School<\/strong> (SACS) will be out to deliver when they begin their title defence of the Clifton Water Polo Tournament<\/a><\/strong> in Durban on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The prestigious event, one of South Africa’s premier boys’ tournaments, runs from 24 to 28 September at the Clifton Aquatic Centre<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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

In a thrilling and nail-biting final in 2024, SACS defeated St John\u2019s College 8-7<\/a><\/strong> to repeat as champions.<\/p>\n

The Newlands-based outfit is seeded in Pool D and will face Hilton College<\/strong>, Michaelhouse<\/strong>, and King Edward VII<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

SuperSport Schools Plus<\/a><\/strong> caught up with SACS head coach Devon Card<\/strong> ahead of the tournament to discuss their preparations, expectations, and the makeup of the team.<\/p>\n

“Preparations are always challenging during the winter, especially as many of our players are still focused on their winter sports until the end of August,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Despite that, we’ve managed to get some solid hours under our belt, particularly with our school getting the heaters on so early in the term.”<\/p>\n

Coach Card’s side last played tournament polo at the KES Water Polo Tournament<\/a><\/strong>, in Johannesburg, in March.<\/p>\n

There, they finished in sixth place after a disappointing SACS Nite Series<\/a><\/strong> campaign, which saw them finish fifth.<\/p>\n

Despite those hiccups, SACS has plenty of talented players who have been focusing on key areas ahead of the tournament.<\/p>\n

“We’ve always been a process-driven team, and that mindset is deeply entrenched in our group,” Card said.<\/p>\n

“We firmly believe that defence wins tournaments, so we’ve been stress-testing our structures against the SACS Old Boys team, which features some of the best attacking talent in the country.<\/p>\n

“Another key focus has been building confidence within the squad to step outside the framework when needed – to back themselves, trust their instincts, and play what’s in front of them.”<\/p>\n

\"Defence
Defence is one of the key areas SACS has been working on ahead of the Clifton Water Polo Tournament. Photo: Milan Boolsen-Lotz<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Card said his players are relishing the opportunity of playing under pressure as the two-time defending champs.<\/p>\n

They are also wary of the challenges that will be posed by their opponents in Pool D.<\/p>\n

“It would be na\u00efve not to acknowledge the quality of the opposition,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Hilton have proven in previous tournaments that they’re among the best in the country, and both KES and Michaelhouse are definitely teams we’ll need to take seriously.<\/p>\n

“That said, our focus remains on ticking the first box in front of us and on controlling the things within our control.”<\/p>\n

When asked about what spectators and the SACS faithful can expect from his side, the coach said: “As always, we’ll be bringing our SACS brand of polo to the tournament. Spectators can expect to see us playing as a team, not relying on individuals, and delivering simple, structured water polo.”<\/p>\n

The Cape outfit will kick off their campaign on day one against KES<\/strong> at 16:50<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

SACS TEAM<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leo Jackson, Harry Oldham, Luca Orgill, Matt Robinson, Nick Wilson, Finn Lecuona, Aidan Turrell, Ben Bigara, Matt Forbes, Michael Skeeles, Connor Mortlock, Jandro Rojo-Roos, Seth Hopkins, Jake Dave.<\/p>\n

SACS Pool fixtures<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wednesday, 24 September<\/strong><\/p>\n

16:50<\/strong> \u2013 SACS vs KES<\/p>\n

Thursday, 25 September<\/strong><\/p>\n

10:20<\/strong> \u2013 SACS vs Michaelhouse
\n13:40<\/strong> \u2013 SACS vs Hilton College<\/p>\n

FIXTURES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wednesday, 24 September<\/strong><\/p>\n

Game 1 – 11:00 – Pool A – Clifton vs Maritzburg College
\nGame 2 – 11:50 – Pool B – Kearsney vs Northwood
\nGame 3 – 12:40 – Pool C – DHS vs Westville
\nGame 4 – 13:30 – Pool D – Hilton vs Michaelhouse
\nGame 5 – 14:20 – Pool B – Paul Roos vs Grey College
\nGame 6 – 15:10 – Pool A – Selborne vs Reddam Constantia
\nGame 7 – 16:00 – Pool C – St John’s vs Affies
\nGame 8 – 16:50 – Pool D – SACS vs KES<\/p>\n

18:00 – Opening Ceremony<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thursday, 26 September<\/strong><\/p>\n

Game 9 – 07:00 – Pool D – Hilton vs KES
\nGame 10 – 07:50 – Pool C – St John’s vs DHS
\nGame 11 – 08:40 – Pool B – Kearsney vs Grey College
\nGame 12 – 09:30 – Pool A – Clifton vs Reddam Constantia
\nGame 13 – 10:20 – Pool D – Michaelhouse vs SACS
\nGame 14 – 11:10 – Pool C – Westville vs Affies
\nGame 15 – 12:00 – Pool B – Paul Roos vs Northwood
\nGame 16 – 12:50 – Pool A – Selborne vs Maritzburg College
\nGame 17 – 13:40 – Pool D – Hilton vs SACS
\nGame 18 – 14:30 – Pool C – St John’s vs Westville
\nGame 19 – 15:20 – Pool B – Kearsney vs Paul Roos
\nGame 20 – 16:10 – Pool A – Clifton vs Selborne
\nGame 21 – 17:00 – Pool D – KES vs Michaelhouse
\nGame 22 – 17:50 – Pool C – Affies vs DHS
\nGame 23 – 18:40 – Pool B – Grey College vs Northwood
\nGame 24 – 19:30 – Pool A – Reddam Constantia vs Maritzburg College<\/p>\n

Friday, 26 September<\/strong><\/p>\n

Game 25 – 08:00 – 2nd Pool A vs 3rd Pool C
\nGame 26 – 09:00 – 2nd Pool B vs 3rd Pool D
\nGame 27 – 10:00 – 3rd Pool A vs 2nd Pool C
\nGame 28 – 11:00 – 3rd Pool B vs 2nd Pool D<\/p>\n

Game 29 – 13:00 – Loser 25 vs Pool D
\nGame 30 – 14:00 – Loser 26 – 4th Pool A
\nGame 31 – 15:00 – Loser 27 – 4th Pool B
\nGame 32 – 16:00 – Loser 28 – 4th Pool C<\/p>\n

18:00 – Parents Social Evening<\/strong><\/p>\n

Game 33 – 07:00 – QF1 – 1st Pool D vs Winner 27
\nGame 34 – 08:00 – QF2 – 1st Pool C vs Winner 28
\nGame 35 – 09:00 – QF3 – 1st Pool B vs Winner 25
\nGame 36 – 10:00 – QF4 – 1st Pool A vs Winner 26
\nGame 37 – 11:00 – Winner 29 vs Winner 30
\nGame 38 – 12:00 – Winner 31 vs Winner 32
\nGame 39 – 13:00 – Loser 29 vs Loser 30
\nGame 40 – 14:00 – Loser 31 vs Loser 32
\nGame 41 – 15:00 – Plate SF 1 – Loser 33 vs Loser 35
\nGame 42 – 16:00 – Plate SF 2 – Loser 34 vs Loser 36<\/p>\n

South Africa vs Argentina – Viewing on five big screen TVs<\/strong><\/p>\n

Game 43 – 19:30 – SF 1 – Winner 33 vs Winner 35
\nGame 44 – 20:30 – SF 2 – Winner 34 vs Winner 36<\/p>\n

Sunday, 28 September<\/strong><\/p>\n

Game 45 – 07:00 – 15\/16 – Loser 40 vs Loser 39
\nGame 46 – 07:50 – 13\/14 – Winner 40 vs Winner 39
\nGame 47 – 08:40 – 11\/12 – Loser 37 vs Loser 38
\nGame 48 – 09:30 – 9\/10 – Winner 37 vs Winner 38
\nGame 49 – 10:20 – 7\/8 – Loser 41 vs Loser 42
\nGame 50 – 11:10 – 5\/6 – Winner 41 vs Winner 42
\nGame 51 – 12:00 – 3\/4 – Loser 44 vs Loser 43
\nGame 52 – 13:00 – 1\/2 – Winner 44 vs Winner 43<\/p>\n

14:00 – Prize Giving<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A simple and structured brand of water polo is what South African College High School (SACS) will be out to deliver when they begin their title defence of the Clifton Water Polo Tournament in Durban on Wednesday. The prestigious event, one of South Africa’s premier boys’ tournaments, runs from 24 to 28 September at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":83538,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83536","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\/83536","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=83536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/83538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}