Swim England Water Polo Hub
Line-up for the National Age Group Championships is finalised
April 1, 2019The line-up for the Swim England Water Polo National Age Group Championships has been completed following the final round of qualifying matches.
City of Liverpool, Welsh Wanderers, Otter and Rotherham will be the teams bidding to be crowned U19s girls champions at the Liverpool Aquatics Centre.
They all booked their places in the last four of the competiton following another thrilling qualifying round at Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School in Elstree, Hertfordshire, and Walsall Gala Baths.
City of Liverpool won Group A with a 100 per cent record after defeating runners-up Welsh Wanderers in the final game.
After defeating Watford 16-2, Cheltenham 11-5 and City of Manchester 9-6, City of Liverpool knew victory would seal top spot.
But they faced a stern test as Welsh Wanderers also boasted three wins from their opening three matches having beaten Watford 13-1, City of Manchester 18-4 and Cheltenham 6-1.
It proved to be a close contest but City of Liverpool ran out 6-4 winners to finish on eight points.
Group A
Fixtures | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Watford | 1 – 13 | Welsh Wanderers | FT |
| City of Manchester | 5 – 5 | Cheltenham | FT |
| City of Liverpool | 16 – 2 | Watford | FT |
| Welsh Wanderers | 18 – 4 | City of Manchester | FT |
| Cheltenham | 5 – 11 | City of Liverpool | FT |
| Watford | 3 – 11 | Cheltenham | FT |
| City of Liverpool | 9 – 6 | City of Manchester | FT |
| Welsh Wanderers | 6 – 1 | Cheltenham | FT |
| Watford | 10 – 18 | City of Manchester | FT |
| Welsh Wanderers | 4 – 6 | City of Liverpool | FT |
Table | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| City of Liverpool | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 8 |
| Welsh Wanderers | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 29 | 6 |
| City of Manchester | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -9 | 3 |
| Cheltenham | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -3 | 3 |
| Watford | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -42 | 0 |
Dominant Otter lead the way
In Group B, Otter dominated as they won all five matches and finished with a goal difference of +44.
They opened up with a 14-5 win over Otter Futura and followed that up with successes over Rotherham (9-2), Newton Abbot (16-4), Caledonia (10-3) and Tyldesley (16-7).
Rotherham took second place after winning their remaining four games to finish ahead of Tyldesley.
They started with a 7-5 win over Tyldesley and bounced back after the Otter defeat to record victories over Otter Futura (8-4), Newton Abbot (12-3) and Caledonia 7-4.
City of Liverpool will take on Rotherham in the semi-finals, while Otter will face Welsh Wanderers.
The finals of the Water Polo National Age Group Championships will take place on 13-14 April at the Liverpool Aquatics Centre.
Group B
Fixtures | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rotherham | 7 – 5 | Tyldesley | FT |
| Otter | 14 – 5 | Otter Futura | FT |
| Newton Abbot | 9 – 6 | Caledonia | FT |
| Rotherham | 2 – 9 | Otter | FT |
| Tyldesley | 13 – 10 | Newton Abbot | FT |
| Otter Futura | 6 – 5 | Caledonia | FT |
| Otter | 16 – 4 | Newton Abbot | FT |
| Rotherham | 8 – 4 | Otter Futura | FT |
| Tyldesley | 11 – 6 | Caledonia | FT |
| Rotherham | 12 – 3 | Newton Abbot | FT |
| Otter | 10 – 3 | Caledonia | FT |
| Tyldesley | 8 – 4 | Otter Futura | FT |
| Rotherham | 7 – 4 | Caledonia | FT |
| Otter Futura | 3 – 5 | Newton Abbot | FT |
| Tyldesley | 7 – 16 | Otter | FT |
Table | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| Otter | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 10 |
| Rotherham | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 8 |
| Tyldesley | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Newton Abbot | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | -19 | 4 |
| Otter Futura | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | -18 | 2 |
| Caledonia | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | -19 | 0 |
Main picture: City of Liverpool Water Polo Twitter page