Great Britain finish 14th at World Junior Championships

The British women’s U20 water polo team brought the curtain down on their World Junior Championships in Volos, Greece with a battling defeat to European giants the Netherlands.

Having eased past South Africa in their first classification match yesterday, the Brits matched their opponents in the first half before fading in the third and fourth quarters in a 22-7 defeat.

It has been a draining Championships for the British women, reduced to a squad of just 10 with centre back Rhianne Oscroft ruled out for much of the tournament with injury.

But after finishing bottom of their group, GB bounced back with a mature performance in a 10-4 victory over South Africa to guarantee a top-14 finish and meet their target for the competition.

The British squad continued in the same vein in their final classification match against the Dutch, one of the ‘big six’ European women’s water polo nations.

City of Manchester’s Honor Grimes – playing for La Latina in Spain this season – continued her record of scoring in every game of the Championships with a goal in the first quarter as the Dutch took a 3-1 lead.

But there was nothing to choose between the two teams in the second quarter with captain Lauren Tasker (City of Liverpool) grabbing two and Grimes adding her 12th goal of the tournament to keep the Brits in touch at 6-4 down at the interval.

While Tasker completed her hat-trick early in the third quarter, a barrage of Dutch attacks shifted the momentum of the game as they scored eight goals to pull clear on the scoreboard with City of Manchester’s Rosie Huck – set to take up a scholarship at the University of Arizona later this year – with the only other British goal.

The Netherlands put the outcome beyond doubt in the final quarter with another eight goals although Rotherham’s Kate Parkin scored a consolation for GB.

Photo Credit: Volos 2015 Official Website.

Great Britain U20 Women’s Water Polo Team

• Lauren Tasker – City of Liverpool
• Honor Grimes – City of Manchester
• Kate Parkin – Rotherham
• Kate Read – Cheltenham / City of Liverpool
• Kathy Rogers – London Otter / Christchurch Seagulls
• Rosie Huck – City of Manchester
• Isobel Howe – City of Manchester
• Katy Andrew – City of Manchester
• Brooke Tafazolli – London Otter
• Megan Gaunt – City of Manchester
• Rhianne Oscroft – City of Coventry