Hilton College won the overall title, and the school’s teams reached the finals of the U14, U15, and U19 competitions at the KZN Top 10 Water Polo tournaments on the weekend.
However, KwaZulu-Natal’s three powerhouses – Hilton, Kearsney College, and Clifton College – shared the age-group titles, with Hilton winning the U14 division, Kearsney taking the honours at U15 level, and Clifton ruling the U19 age group.
On Sunday, in the first game of the day at the Clifton Aquatic Centre, Northwood sent shockwaves through the water, upsetting Kearsney 8-7 to claim top spot in Pool B.
Under the guidance of coach Scott Mantle, the Knights have been on a steady ascent. Against Kearsney, they produced the kind of performance that they have threatened for a while now.
Their win resulted in a semi-final showdown between Clifton and Kearsney, a clash neither had foreseen nor particularly wanted. However, as the saying goes, to be the best, you have to beat the best.
As they had done throughout the two days of competition, Clifton came out of the blocks on fire in that semifinal, racing into a 3-0 lead in the first chukka. They allowed Kearsney back into the contest, however, with coach Nick Rodda‘s boys staging a dramatic fightback from 5-8 down ahead of the fourth chukka to even matters at 9-9. Clifton, to their relief, had the final say, though, and progressed to the title game.
Hilton, meanwhile, was imperious in their semifinal, inexorably grinding down Northwood to win 10-3. That set up a second meeting between Clifton and Hilton.
In their first match of the tournament against Hilton on Saturday, Clifton, as they did against Kearsney, rocketed ahead, also by a 3-0 margin, but Hilton fought back before eventually going down 5-6. Coach Pierre le Roux and his Clifton team knew they had to play a complete game to beat Hilton again.
Once more, they made an excellent start, controlling the first chukka and taking a 2-0 lead into the break. At half-time, though, Hilton had pulled it back to 2-3. Still, Clifton held onto the lead. Still, Hilton kept challenging it.
This time, though, in the fourth chukka, when Hilton twice threatened to overhaul Clifton, the hosts responded almost immediately with timely goals to keep Hilton at bay. When the final whistle sounded, Clifton had won 7-5. They maintained their defensive intensity throughout, and that proved pivotal in their title win.
“That was the challenge,” Pierre le Roux said. “After this morning’s semifinal, I said to them, they started really well against Kearsney, then we let them back in. We went ahead again and let them back in. If we allow a good team to do that, they will eventually take it away from us.
“At the Clifton Tournament, we were up by four goals against Kearsney. We let them back in, and we lost on penalties. We did the same at the Nick Rey U16 Water Polo Tournament. We were up by three goals. We let them back in, and we lost on penalties. I’m very proud of the boys learning from those hard defeats.”
Reflecting on the final, Le Roux said: “Hilton is a good team. Coming in, they were the favourites. They won the Clifton Water Polo Tournament, and they were finalists at SACS. Beating them on Saturday was a big confidence-booster for us.”
In the title decider, Clifton’s defensive intensity was rewarded with many blocks, two of which they turned into goals.
“That’s massive in water polo,” Le Roux said. “We see it in rugby as well, the transition from turnover into counterattack. It’s a coach-killer!
“We work hard on that. I speak about defence being the best offence.
“If you get pressure on the opposition, they’ll make mistakes, and they’ll take chances. If you’re smart enough – and I have some really smart players – that’s where those penalties and breakaways came from.
“Sometimes you wait a whole game to get just one, but that one can win you a gold medal.”
Encouragingly for Clifton, they achieved their victory without their matric players, except Daniel Nothard, who is still U17.
Kearsney College reversed their earlier loss to Northwood to finish third, beating the Knights 10-9, thus bringing the cumulative scores between the two over their two matches on Sunday to 17-17. While they finished fourth, Northwood made a serious statement that they want to turn the big three into a big four.
Coach Paul Martin watched his Hilton College team lose in the U19 final, but it was a superb day for Hilton. They topped the overall standings with 29 points. Kearsney, which had won the overall title in 2024 and 2025, finished second with 28 points, while Clifton was third on 23.
Reaching three finals was something to celebrate, and Martin credited Hilton College’s Director of Water Polo, Andrew Duncan, who has overseen the programme for almost a decade, with setting up the players and coaches to succeed.
“We believe in our systems. We back our programme, and we have been very methodical about how we do things,” Martin said, adding that in training, the aim is to replicate match and tournament play.
Looking back over the past month, he said: “The 1st team had a great run, winning the Clifton Tournament and making the final at SACS. The U15s finished third at the Ian Melliar Cup, so the programme’s in a good place.”
Hilton’s other side at the KZN Top 10, the U14s, convincingly won the title, beating Kearsney 7-3 in the final.
That’s interesting because Martin termed himself a “65-35 coach”, explaining that he spends 65 percent of his time with the 1st side and the other 35 percent with the U14s. Andrew Duncan, meanwhile, spends 65 percent of his time with the U14 side and 35 percent with the first team. It’s hard to argue with the results.
Competition in the U15 age group was the tightest of all. While Kearsney, the Ian Melliar Water Polo Tournament winners, lived up to their status as favourites, they won by only a single goal, edging out Hilton 7-6 in the final. Clifton, beaten 5-4 by Kearsney in the semi-finals, finished third with a narrow 7-6 win over Michaelhouse.
One last result worth sharing was the third-place playoff in the U14 section, which Maritzburg College won by outplaying Northwood 7-3.
Once upon a time, College was the standard-setter in KZN water polo before falling off the pace. They’ve been improving in recent seasons, though. Could their U14 results be a sign that much better is to come?
OVERALL STANDINGS
Hilton College 29
Kearsney College 28
Clifton College 23
Northwood 20
Michaelhouse 19
Maritzburg College 15
Westville Boys’ High 15
Durban High School 10
Glenwood High 3
Curro Hillcrest 2
Thomas More College 2
RESULTS
Sunday
U19
Northwood 8-7 Kearsney
Hilton 10-8 Westville
Michaelhouse 8-1 Thomas More
Maritzburg College 13-2 Glenwood
Clifton 10-9 Kearsney (Semi 1)
Hilton 10-3 Northwood (Semi 2)
9th/10th – Thomas More 10-7 Glenwood
7th/8th – Maritzburg College 11-10 DHS
5th/6th – Michaelhouse 7-6 Westville
3rd/4th – Kearsney 10-9 Northwood
1st/2nd – Clifton 7-5 Hilton
U15
Maritzburg College 14-6 Curro Hillcrest
Clifton 4-3 Westville
Kearsney 9-2 Michaelhouse
DHS 18-3 Glenwood
Hilton 8-7 Michaelhouse (Semi 1)
Kearsney 5-4 Clifton (Semi 2)
9th/10th – Curro Hillcrest 12-2 Glenwood
7th/8th – DHS 14-5 Maritzburg College
5th/6th – Northwood 8-5 Westville
3rd/4th – Clifton 7-6 Michaelhouse
1st/2nd – Kearsney 7-6 Hilton
U14
Michaelhouse 15-3 Invitational
Westville 14-0 Glenwood
Northwood 7-2 Clifton
Hilton 4-2 Maritzburg College
Hilton 4-2 Northwood (Semi 1)
Kearsney 5-4 Maritzburg College (Semi 2)
9th/10th – Invitational 12-0 Glenwood
7th/8th – Clifton 5-2 DHS
5th/6th – Michaelhouse 9-2 Westville
3rd/4th – Maritzburg College 7-3 Northwood
1st/2nd – Hilton 7-3 Kearsney
