St Andrew’s host water polo warm-up

ST ANDREW’S College hosted Pearson High and Grey High in their annual preseason water polo fixtures in Grahamstown on Saturday.

The day started with some heavy rain but that did not deter the players as they headed into their firstround fixtures.

In those matches against Pearson, the U14As drew 3-3, while St Andrew’s U15A won 7-6.

The first team match started slowly, with both teams trading attacks but none able to yield any goals.

In the second, third and fourth chukkas, St Andrew’s started to press forward and scored some brilliant team goals.

There was some fine play by Wesley Williams and Andrew van Vuuren that set the stage for a strong finish by the home team as they won 13-2.

The second round of fixtures against Grey was always going to be tough but the home players showed their resolve.

The U14As lost 8-0, while the U15As lost 5-3.

Buoyed by the official opening of the new pavilion at the water polo pool, the St Andrew’s first team started the match with good intensity, going 2-0 up after four minutes.

Grey were never going to go down easily and managed to take advantage of some untimely mistakes to claw their way back into the match at 3-3.

Both teams traded goals, with Grey going into the last 40 seconds with a 6-5 lead.

St Andrew’s dug deep and Christopher Bennett slotted the equalising goal for a 6-6 draw.