Australia's winning streak continues as quarter finals begin

Published Fri 29 Mar 2019

The Australian men’s and women’s water polo teams have finished at the top of their groups at the FINA World League Inter-Continental Cup.

Both teams will play New Zealand in Friday’s quarter finals.

The Aussies continued their winning streaks overnight with the Sharks (men’s) recording a convincing 19-6 victory over South Africa and the Stingers (women’s) defeating Kazakhstan 15-4.

There were no signs of fatigue amongst the Sharks following their Wednesday thriller against Japan. The team got off to a flying start, leading 6-1 at quarter time, with Nathan Power, Aidan Roach, Andrew Ford and Angus Lambie scoring singles and Tim Putt snaring a double.

South Africa’s defence tightened in the second quarter but Nicholas Brooks was able to score twice in the space of 30 seconds and the Aussies maintained a 9-3 lead at half time.

Roach opened the scoring in the second half and a great solo effort from George Ford extended the Aussies lead 12-3. The momentum resulted in another goal to Nathan Power.

The Aussies scored six more six goals in the fourth quarter with Lachlan Edwards grabbing a double.

All up Australia had nine goal scorers throughout the game, with top scorer Tim Putt collecting player of the match for this four-goal contribution.

“We really needed to focus in after last night, it was obviously a close win, but I think we did,” Putt said.

“We tuned in, we got the chat up and it was really good,” Putt said.

“Good to get the win, running through some fresh legs with the young boys and focusing on our defence, which really showed today.”

Putt said it was ‘phenominal’ to play in front of a home crowd.

“Everyone hears about what you’re doing but no one actually understands until they see it,” he said.

“To get everyone down here and support…it’s been great.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Water Polo Australia (@waterpoloaus) on Mar 28, 2019 at 2:42pm PDT

Amy Ridge scored a long-range goal at the beginning of the second quarter before Zoe

Arancini scored through a penalty and backed that up with a goal in general play to extend Australia’s lead 8-2 at half-time.

The Aussies solidified their win with an additional seven goals in the second half.

Captain Rowie Webster was awarded player of the game.

“We just wanted to come out and build on yesterday’s game and I think we’re improving as the tournament goes on so nice to get a win in game three,” Webster said.

Looking to Friday’s quarter final, Webster said the Aussies would not underestimate their competitors.

“They’ve been building towards this tournament and we’re just focusing on our game.

“They always put up a good fight. Its bragging rights between us and NZ, we can’t take them lightly.