While sadly the hosts, Grey College didn’t win the tournament, they finished in a very respectable sixth, competing against schools that compete in far more tournaments and matches than them.

This performance saw the hosts reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament for the first time in 10 years.

The schools namesake, Grey High School of Port Elizabeth, were the eventual winners after beating the traditional powerhouse of school water polo, Clifton College from Durban, 6-2 in the final.

Selbourne College of East London completed the podium by edging Reddam House of Bedfordview 6-4 in the third and fourth play-off.

During 5th and 6th play-off, Northwood of Durban outgunned the host with a 7-3 win.

While Water Polo is very much a fringe sport in the Free State, the headmaster of Grey, Deon Scheepers, told OFM Sport that the successful tournament was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the school's competitiveness in the sport, despite a lack of local opposition.

“It’s a wonderful privilege for us to host this tournament and to have the cream of South Africa’s water polo schools here.

“It’s a well organised tournament and our boys are performing well.

“The quality of the water polo is very high and although it’s a fringe sport at Grey College, if we can give the boys a niche and somewhere to belong, that is what is really important to us.”

Grey College saw three players achieving a fantastic milestone over the weekend with Louis Gouws, Matthew Lahoud and Sheldon Skea all having played in their 100th match for the first team.

Lahoud in his turn also received a prize for the best goal of the tournament.

Grey College results:

Grey 4 vs. Crawford 5; Grey 4 vs. Selbourne 8; Grey 5 vs. St Benedict’s 2; Grey 6 vs. Pearson 2; Grey 2 vs. Clifton 8; Grey 5 vs. St David’s 5; Grey 3 vs. Northwood 6.

 A full list of results

Morgan Piek OFM Sport