The St Andrew's College 1st Team traveled to Cape Town this weekend (25 September) to take part in the annual SACS Water Polo Tournament, featuring 20 of the top schools' water polo sides in the country.
College got off to an excellent start on the first day of the tournament, beating Wynberg 8 - 4, and they followed this with an impressive 8 - 2 win in a tough physical encounter with Maritzburg College. Their third game was an entertaining 12 - 3 win over Michaelhouse, and then in the main game of the day in front of a large crowd, they beat the hosts SACS 5 - 3.
The second day started off with a 7 - 3 win over Westville, and College followed this with a fine performance to beat last year's finalists KES 8 - 5. After a comfortable 10 - 3 win over Grey Bloem, College put in another impressive performance in their final game of the day to beat the other unbeaten side in the pool, St Stithians, 6 - 3.
They wrapped up their pool games on the final morning with a 7 - 0 win over Paul Roos to finish top of their pool with a full house of 9 wins in 9 games. This set up a quarter final against the 4th placed team in the other pool, Rondebosch, and College put in a commanding performance to win the game 5 - 1.
In the semi-final against Bishops, College again controlled the game superbly to win 5 - 1, thereby reaching the final of the SACS Tournament for the first time.
The final against a very strong Pretoria Boy High team was a close and tense match, and College came from behind to hold a narrow 3 - 2 lead at the end of the first chukka. However in the second chukka, College showed great composure, as they had throughout the tournament, to close out the match 5 - 3 and win the SACS Tournament for the first time in their history.
Choc Malan, Peter Cornish, Nick Eastwood and Lachlan Macdonald were selected for the tournament side announced after the tournament, and Peter Cornish was named the best goalkeeper in the tournament - an achievement that recognizes them unofficially as amongst the top players in the country.
This was an outstanding performance in a tournament featuring the top schools in the country, and was particularly impressive given that they won every one of their 12 matches, scoring 86 goals in the process. It was also a fitting send off for this remarkable team, which has without doubt been the finest water polo side in the history of St Andrew's College.
G Creese
