The countdown is on to the Clifton Water Polo Tournament, one of the season’s premier events, which runs from 17 September to 20 September.
The tournament features nine KZN teams – Clifton, Clifton 2, Durban High School (DHS), Kearsney, Michaelhouse, Maritzburg College, Westville, Hilton, and Northwood – and seven sides from outside of the Province: Reddam House Constantia, Selborne College, Paul Roos Gimnasium, St John’s College, Affies, SACS, and King Edward VII (KES).
In recent seasons, KZN has been a strong contender at the Schools Water Polo South Africa Inter-Provincial Tournament. However, the province’s success at that level has not consistently translated to success in schools’ competitions. The province is blessed with an enviable array of coaching talent, so the question is whether that will translate into greater successes against the rest of the country’s top water polo-playing schools.
For the first time, the competition will also include standalone primary school contests, with Clifton, Durban Prep (DPHS), Umhlali, Highbury, and Chelsea Prep set to take to the pool.
In 2025, SACS chased a third consecutive title, but victory went to Hilton College, who beat St John’s College 10-8 in the final. It was the first time that a KZN side had won since Clifton beat Westville Boys’ High in the 2019 competition.
There was no event in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. St John’s College beat Paul Roos Gimnasium 8-7 in the 2021 final and repeated as the champion in 2022, with Paul Roos again finishing second after the Johannesburg school powered to a 13-7 victory.
In 2023, SACS succeeded St John’s as the champion, with Paul Roos, unfortunately, for the Stellenbosch school, losing in the final for a third successive year. SACS won 7-6 and lifted the title again in 2024, winning by a one-goal margin once more when they beat St John’s 8-7 in the final.
The hosts, Clifton College, will face DHS, Reddam House Constantia, and Selborne College in Pool A.
Clifton has been in good form in preparation for their home tournament. They will, no doubt, be one of the fittest teams under the guidance of Pierre le Roux, the most experienced South African international player of all time. They’ll also be desperate for a win in home waters.
Playing in Pool A, they’ll be up against Durban High School (DHS), Reddam House Constantia, and Selborne College. Reddam, like Clifton, is a previous winner of the tournament, but the Cape side’s victory came way back in 2013.
Clifton, Reddam, and Selborne all reached the quarterfinals of the Clifton Water Polo Tournament in 2025, but only Clifton progressed to the semifinals, leaning on their strong defence as they powered to an 11-6 win over SACS to reach the final four.
Reddam fell to the eventual champion, Hilton College, going down by six goals, while Kearsney outplayed Selborne by 11. DHS, meanwhile, edged out Affies 12-11.
In many ways, those results arguably reflect the order in which many regard the chances of those teams: Clifton, Reddam, Selborne, and DHS, but matches are won in the pool, and not on paper.
Pool B features the only newcomer, the Clifton 2nd side, which replaces Grey College. It has been a battle swimming upstream for Grey in recent seasons. As the only school in the Free State playing the sport, they’ve struggled to keep pace with other sides as they have improved their games, and they were some way off the pace in 2025.
The other teams in Pool B are Kearsney, Michaelhouse, and Paul Roos. While PRG has a proud record in the Clifton Water Polo Tournament, they missed the quarterfinals last year. Earlier in 2026, they also finished only 11th at the SAC Shield. They have some ground to make up.
Kearsney is the favourite to top the pool. They made the semifinals in 2025.
Michaelhouse, meanwhile, went down to St John’s, the eventual runner-up, by four goals in the Clifton quarterfinals. They went on to finish seventh after an 11-7 win over Reddam, which reflected their upward trajectory in recent seasons.
Kearsney placed fourth after a 7-9 defeat to Clifton College.
The Clifton 2nd team is the wild card in Pool B. Playing at home, with nothing to lose, they could throw a spanner in the works.
Pool C is headlined by St John’s, who will face Affies, Maritzburg College, and Westville Boys’ High.
The Johannesburg school has always been a contender, and there’s no reason to expect that to change in 2026. While St John’s made the final last year, Affies had to settle for 11th after a 12-5 win over Paul Roos. That appears to be a lot of ground to make up, but Affies suffered a narrow 5-6 loss to St John’s when they met in the group stage of the competition.
Pool C turned out to be the tightest of the lot, with Affies beating Westville 8-6 but losing 9-10 to DHS, and that left them on the outside looking in. The margins were slim, though, and one or two breaks could have seen the Pretoria side challenging at the other end of the results.
While Maritzburg College’s water polo is on the up, they would appear to have some ground to make up. Westville, meanwhile, is a tough team to evaluate. At their best, they’re capable of duking it out with anyone, but inconsistency has been one of their bigger challenges in recent seasons.
The line-up is completed by Pool D’s Hilton College, Northwood, SACS, and KES.
While Hilton is the defending champion, they lost some outstanding players at the end of 2025, including Tristan Uys, an attacking force capable of turning games with his individual brilliance.
In early 2026, at the SAC Shield, they finished in sixth place after a narrow one-goal loss to Clifton in the playoffs. They fared better at the KES Water Polo Tournament, up against the toughest field in the country, finishing sixth, the second-best of the KZN schools, behind Kearsney College. Hilton will be in the mix.
SACS doesn’t so much rebuild. Rather, it reloads. Although they’re not the dominant outfit that claimed successive Clifton Water Polo titles in 2023 and 2024, they, like Hilton, will be in the mix. Fourth places at the SAC Shield and the KES Water Polo Tournament show their consistency and their ability to contend.
KES had a tough go of it at the Clifton Water Polo Tournament in 2025, finishing in 15th place. Although they finished only 14th in their home tournament in March, they were competitive and not far off the pace. It doesn’t take much to turn the momentum when the competition is this tight.
Northwood is an interesting contestant. The Knights feel as if they have been on the verge of making a big leap to the next level for a couple of seasons now. Yet, they have not yet put everything together. For them, like KES, a small increment could result in a big move in the standings.
POOLS
Pool A: Clifton, DHS, Reddam, Selborne
Pool B: Kearsney, Michaelhouse, Paul Roos, Clifton 2
Pool C: Maritzburg College, Westville, St John’s, Affies
Pool D: Hilton, Northwood, SACS, KES
FIXTURES
Thursday, 17 September
Game 1, 11:20 – Kearsney vs Michaelhouse, Pool B
Game 2, 12:10 – Maritzburg College vs Westville, Pool C
Game 3, 13:00 – Hilton vs Northwood, Pool D
Game 4, 13:50 – Clifton Prep vs Umhlali
Game 5, 14:40 – Clifton vs DHS, Pool A
Game 6: 15:10 – Paul Roos vs Clifton 2, Pool B
Game 7: 16:00 – St John’s vs Affies, Pool C
Game 8: 16:50 – Selborne vs Reddam, Pool A
Game 9: 17:40 – SACS vs KES, Pool D
Friday, 18 September
Game 10, 07:00 – Kearsney vs Clifton 2, Pool B
Game 11, 07:50 – Clifton vs Reddam, Pool A
Game 12, 08:40 – Northwood vs SACS, Pool D
Game 13, 09:30 – St John’s vs Maritzburg College, Pool C
Game 14, 10:20 – Hilton vs KES, Pool D
Game 15, 11:10 – Westville vs Affies, Pool C
Game 16, 12:00 – Paul Roos vs Michaelhouse, Pool B
Game 17, 12:50 – Selborne vs DHS, Pool A
Game 18, 13:40 – Hilton vs SACs, Pool D
Game 19, 14:30 – St John’s vs Westville, Pool C
Game 20, 15:20 – Kearsney vs Paul Roos, Pool B
Game 21, 16:10 – Clifton vs Selborne, Pool A
Game 22, 17:00 – KES vs Northwood, Pool D
Game 23, 17:50 – Affies vs Maritzburg College, Pool C
Game 24, 18:40 – Clifton 2 vs Michaelhouse
Game 25, 19:30 – Reddam vs DHS, Pool A
Saturday, 19 September
07:30 – DPHS vs Highbury
Game 26, 08:00 – 1st Pool A vs 2nd Pool B (Cup QF 1)
Game 27, 08:50 – 1st Pool B vs 2nd Pool A (Cup QF 2)
Game 27, 09:40 – 1st Pool C vs 2nd Pool D (Cup QF 3)
Game 29, 10:30 – 1st Pool D vs 2nd Pool C (Cup QF 4)
Game 30, 11:30 – 3rd Pool A vs 4th Pool B
Game 31, 12:20 – 3rd Pool B vs 4th Pool A
Game 32, 13:10 – 3rd Pool C vs 4th Pool D
Game 33, 14:00 – 3rd Pool D vs 4th Pool C
Game 34, 14:50 – Loser Game 25 vs Loser Game 26
Game 35, 15:40 – Loser Game 27 vs Loser Game 28
16:30 – Chelsea vs DPHS
Game 36, 17:20 – Winner Game 26 vs Winner Game 27 (SF 1)
Game 37, 18:10 – Winner Game 28 vs Winner Game 29 (SF 2)
Sunday, 20 September
Game 38, 07:00 – Winner Game 30 vs Winner Game 31
Game 39, 07:50 – Winner Game 32 vs Winner Game 33
Game 40, 08:40 – Loser Game 30 vs Loser Game 31
Game 41, 09:30 – Loser Game 32 vs Loser Game 33
Game 42, 10:20 – Winner Game 38 vs Winner Game 39 (9/10)
Game 43, 11:10 – Loser Game 38 vs Loser Game 30 (11/12)
Game 44, 12:00 – Winner Game 40 vs Winner Game 31 (13/14)
Game 45, 12:50 – Loser Game 40 vs Loser Game 41 (15/16)
Game 46, 13:40 – Winner Game 34 vs Winner Game 35 (5/6)
Game 47, 14:30 – Loser Game 34 vs Loser Game 35 (7/8)
Game 48, 15:20 – Loser Game 36 vs Loser Game 37 (3/4)
Games 49, 16:10 – Winner Game 36 vs Winner Game 37 (1/2)
