{"id":85777,"date":"2025-10-28T10:47:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T08:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=85777"},"modified":"2025-10-28T10:47:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T08:47:54","slug":"clifton-wins-two-kzn-top-10-titles-overall-honours-to-kearsney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=85777","title":{"rendered":"Clifton wins two KZN Top 10 titles, overall honours to Kearsney"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Clifton
Clifton and Kearsney faced off in the u19 final, with Clifton winning by a single goal. Kearsney, though, was crowned the overall KZN Top 10 champion. Photo: Clifton School on Facebook<\/strong><\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a repeat of 2024’s results, Clifton College<\/strong> won two out of the three KZN Top 10 water polo titles, but Kearsney College<\/strong> was crowned the overall champion, thanks to their consistency through the u14, u15, and u19 team competitions.<\/p>\n

Unlike 2024, Kearsney didn’t lift a single title – they won last year’s 1st team competition – with Hilton College being crowned the u14 champion, and Clifton lifting the u15 and 1st team titles.<\/p>\n

Echoing 2024’s overall results, Kearsney edged out Hilton and Clifton by a single point.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

u19<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Clifton 1st team put together an outstanding run to win the u19 title at the Clifton Aquatic Centre <\/strong>on Sunday.<\/p>\n

They were stretched by Westville Boys’ High<\/strong>, winning 10-9, and they downed Kearsney 7-4 in the final. But not once did they need penalties to win. An opening 8-5 victory over Hilton College<\/strong> set up coach Pierre le Roux<\/strong>‘<\/a>s charges for their run to the title.<\/p>\n

The highly regarded Le Roux took over the school’s water polo programme earlier this year and it was clear then that the players hadn’t enjoyed a full pre-season under his guidance. Now that he has had good time to prepare the 1st team and to institute his influence on the overall Clifton water polo programme, the results are evident, and they’re good.<\/p>\n

Kearsney, last year’s winners – they edged out Hilton 8-7 in a thrilling final – hasn’t been quite the dominant team they became late in 2024, when they won the Saints Invitational Water Polo title<\/strong><\/a>, but they’ve been very good. Like Clifton, they were pushed to the limit by Westville and also won by only one goal against their neighbours, taking their semi-final showdown 6-5. Westville, meanwhile, handed Hilton a 7-6 loss in a pivotal contest.<\/p>\n

Durban High School (DHS)<\/strong> turned in an encouraging showing and made it through to the semi-finals. Their key result was a 7-6 win over Northwood<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1st Team Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday, 25 October<\/strong><\/p>\n

Westville 18-6 Glenwood
\nKearsney 14-8 DHS
\nClifton 8-5 Hilton
\nNorthwood 15-4 Thomas More
\nWestville 8-3 Maritzburg College
\nDHS 7-4 Michaelhouse
\nClifton 25-1 Glenwood
\nKearsney 18-3 Thomas More
\nHilton 7-4 Maritzburg College
\nNorthwood 7-5 Michaelhouse
\nClifton 10-9 Westville
\nDHS 14-1 Thomas More
\nHilton 22-2 Glenwood
\nKearsney 9-6 Michaelhouse
\nDHS 7-6 Northwood
\nClifton 10-3 Maritzburg College<\/p>\n

Sunday, 26 October<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michaelhouse 11-5 Thomas More
\nWestville 7-6 Hilton
\nKearsney 9-6 Northwood
\nMaritzburg College 16-4 Glenwood
\nClifton 9-5 DHS (Semi)
\nKearsney 6-5 Westville (Semi)
\nGlenwood 9-5 Thomas More (9\/10)
\nMichaelhouse 7-5 Maritzburg College (7\/8)
\nNorthwood 6-4 Hilton (5\/6)
\nWestville 7-5 DHS (3\/4)
\nClifton 7-4 Kearsney (1\/2)<\/p>\n

u15<\/strong><\/p>\n

Clifton’s u15 team as u14s last year, ran roughshod through their KZN Top 10 competition. They also proved recently that they remain one of the best teams in their age group in the country at Wynberg Boys’ High’s Ian Melliar Cup<\/strong><\/a>, which brought together most of South Africa’s leading sides.<\/p>\n

While they were beaten in the quarterfinals by Rondebosch Boys’ High<\/strong>, the eventual champions, that defeat was the only one suffered by Clifton, who later beat St David’s Marist Inanda<\/strong>, who had surprised ‘Bosch<\/strong> <\/em>in their opening game.<\/p>\n

Clifton’s u15s, though, found the going far tougher on the weekend than they had found it to be a year earlier in the u14 competition. In their very first outing, they needed penalties to get by Northwood. All credit to Northwood, though. They went on to finish third after a 4-3 win over Kearsney.<\/p>\n

Clifton also won by only one against Westville and needed penalties to defeat Hilton in the final, which ended 5-5, before Clifton slotted two penalties to Hilton’s one.<\/p>\n

The Durban boys, though, have shown, time after time, an admirable quality to pull off victories in tight contests.<\/p>\n

u15 Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday, 25 October<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michaelhouse 16-2 Glenwood
\nClifton (2) 6-6 (0) Northwood
\nHilton 14-7 Kearsney
\nWestville 4-0 Thomas More
\nMichaelhouse 15-1 DHS
\nNorthwood 9-2 Maritzburg College
\nKearsney 13-6 Glenwood
\nClifton 15-1 Thomas More
\nHilton 18-1 DHS
\nWestville 4-3 Maritzburg College
\nKearsney 9-8 pens Michaelhouse
\nNorthwood 9-2 Thomas More
\nHilton 20-3 Glenwood
\nClifton 11-1 Maritzburg College
\nNorthwood 4-3 Westville
\nKearsney 12-7 DHS<\/p>\n

Sunday, 26 October<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maritzburg College 6-5 Thomas More
\nHilton 14-5 Michaelhouse
\nClifton 4-3 Westville
\nGlenwood 5-2 DHS
\nHilton 8-5 Northwood (Semi)
\nClifton 10-5 Kearsney (Semi)
\nThoma More 10-2 DHS (9\/10)
\nMaritzburg College 16-3 Glenwood (7\/8)
\nWestville 5-4 Michaelhouse (5\/6)
\nNorthwood 4-3 Kearsney (3\/4)
\nClifton (2) 5-5 (1) Hilton (1\/2)<\/p>\n

u14<\/strong><\/p>\n

The u14 competition featured three teams that have proved themselves to be among the best in the country in the age group in 2025 – Hilton, Kearsney, and Michaelhouse – and they finished in that order, with Hilton scoring a 6-5 win over Kearsney to prevent the Botha’s Hill boys from winning a fourth tournament in 2025.<\/p>\n

In the end, a 4-5 loss by Clifton against Northwood cost Clifton in the overall standings, with Northwood going on to finish sixth and Clifton ending seventh.<\/p>\n

Hilton put together a clean run, which included a 6-3 victory over Michaelhouse. Apart from the final, that was as close as any team got to beating them.<\/p>\n

u14 Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

Westville 25-0 Glenwood
\nKearsney 9-4 Clifton
\nHilton 6-3 Michaelhouse
\nNorthwood 7-4 Invitational
\nWestville 7-4 Maritzburg College
\nKearsney 12-5 DHS
\nMichaelhouse 21-1 Glenwood
\nClifton 10-1 Invitational
\nHilton 12-0 Maritzburg College
\nDHS 6-2 Northwood
\nMichaelhouse 12-2 Westville
\nKearsney 12-0 Invitational
\nHilton 24-0 Glenwood
\nDHS 8-5 Clifton
\nKearsney 7-2 Northwood
\nMichaelhouse 10-4 Maritzburg College<\/p>\n

DHS 9-2 Invitational
\nHilton 12-3 Westville
\nNorthwood 5-4 Clifton
\nMaritzburg College 16-0 Glenwood
\nHilton 12-4 DHS (Semi)
\nKearsney 9-4 Michaelhouse (Semi)
\nInvitational 17-1 Glenwood (9\/10)
\nClifton 6-4 Maritzburg College (7\/8)
\nWestville 7-3 Northwood (5\/6)
\nMichaelhouse 12-1 DHS (3\/4)
\nHilton 6-5 Kearsney (1\/2)<\/p>\n

Overall Ranking<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kearsney<\/strong> 27
\nClifton<\/strong> 26
\nHilton<\/strong> 26
\nWestville<\/strong> 20
\nNorthwood<\/strong> 19
\nMichaelhouse<\/strong> 17
\nDHS<\/strong> 15
\nMaritzburg College<\/strong> 10
\nGlenwood<\/strong> 6
\nThomas More<\/strong> 3<\/p>\n

Points Allocations<\/strong><\/p>\n

1st – 11
\n2nd – 10
\n3rd – 8
\n4th – 7
\n5th – 6
\n6th – 5
\n7th – 4
\n8th – 3
\n9th – 2
\n10th -1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a repeat of 2024’s results, Clifton College won two out of the three KZN Top 10 water polo titles, but Kearsney College was crowned the overall champion, thanks to their consistency through the u14, u15, and u19 team competitions. Unlike 2024, Kearsney didn’t lift a single title – they won last year’s 1st team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":85778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85777","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\/85777","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=85777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/85778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}