The third quarter is the moving quarter, according to my colleague Craig Aitken, and it was for OBHS, as they came back quite strongly before we managed to pull away and win 18–5. It was possibly one of our best efforts as a team during the season. Our second game was against Christchurch Boys’ High School, who had beaten us comprehensively (20– 4) in an earlier match. In fact, CBHS made the local schools’ competition final. So by the end of the second quarter we were surprised to be up by two goals. The “moving” third quarter came back to bite us again, with CBHS taking the lead. It was then a see-saw affair in the fourth quarter and, with 40 seconds remaining, CBHS took the lead and we were unable to come back, losing 8–7. Tom Thyne was outstanding, closely supported by Sam Chittock, Alex McEwan, Matty Hickman and James Drury. In the third game of pool play, up against St Bede’s College B, we played our bench for most of the game, rotating our core players as
we knew we had a tough game later that evening. Lachlan McVicar played a full game in goal and this enabled us to play George Pearse in the field. Guy Roadley, Matthew Flint and James Burt played very well, and we had a comfortable 11–1 win. Our late game was against Shirley Boys’ High School and we were out for revenge after we lost to them in controversial fashion earlier in the term. Sam Chittock, George Grace, James Drury and Tom Thyne played very well, supported by the rest of the team, and we managed to put them away, 10–6. We went into the semi-final up against the top team, a very slick and experienced St Bede’s A team. We managed to hold them for the first two quarters and then the flood gates opened, and we were defeated 18–7. This put us into a play-off for 3rd and 4th place against St Andrew’s College. Guy Roadley – who put his hand up to play water polo only three weeks before – was outstanding, and after Sam Chittock was rolled, Matthew Flint was literally thrown into the deep end up against a more
experienced StAC player. While we led for all of the game, it was extremely touch and go. George Pearse stopped a crucial 5m penalty shot, and we managed to win 12–9, placing us 3rd in the South Island. After effectively finishing the Canterbury competition in last place, we really had something to prove. I always believed we were a top four team, we just needed to prove it to ourselves. Crucially, coaching by senior players Isaac Aitken, Ben Cornell, Jacob Clements and Moe Gath prior to the tournament really paid off. Ben Cornell guided almost all of the games, with technical advice from Jacob. I am really proud of the boys, they all worked really hard to achieve their goal of making the top four. Special mention should be made of Tom Thyne, as he was an outstanding leader and team captain. He proved to be our most valuable player and made the SISS tournament team along with Sam Chittock.
Neil Nicholson MiC Water Polo
WATER POLO SENIOR A 2020
Back Row: JS Drury, BGL Vaughan, GS Greening, BB Crestani, JW Ford Middle Row: Mr NS Nicholson (Manager), SD Falvey, JH Thelning, MJ Hickman Front Row: TL Thyne, JS Clements, ML Gath (Captain), BM Cornell, IC Aitken Absent: AJ McEwan, LR Moore, GH Morrow
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Christ’s College Canterbury
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