Great Britain’s senior men finish second at Porto International tournament

Great Britain’s senior men finished runners-up at the 2023 Porto-Professor Rui Moreira tournament last weekend as their preparation for the new season continued.

Head coach Nick Hume selected a young squad, which included four debutants, where they faced some tough opposition at the Clube Fluvial Portuense’s pool.

Solihull and Rotherham’s Oliver Vodden and Polytechnic’s Adam Williams made their senior debuts for Great Britain alongside Wales’ Lewis Gilmour and Matthew Griffiths.

They made up a third of the 12-man squad that travelled to Porto for more valuable competition experience at the three-day event from 15-17 September.

The four-team tournament contested of Great Britain, Portugal, Portugal U20’s and Spanish side Claret Askartza.

Great Britain opened up their competition by facing each side in preliminary matches where they recorded one victory and two defeats.

The victory came against Portugal U20’s where Kameron Powell and Daniel Atkinson scored a hat trick each in a 12-9 win.

Vodden and Gilmour got their first goals for the senior team with James Salt, Lloyd Pittick and a double for Matthew Griffiths completing the scoring.

The results saw Great Britain place third meaning they faced a match-up with second place Claret Askartza in the semi-finals where they turned their result from the preliminaries on it’s head.

Less than 48 hours after their 10-5 defeat to the Spaniards, they bounced back with a 12-9 victory to reach the final.

The result showed Britain’s improvement across the event where a strong third quarter saw them take the upper hand in the match-up.

Salt, captain of the British side, led the scorers with three whilst Griffiths (2), Powell (2), Gilmour (2), Vodden, Atkinson and Williams all got on the scoresheet in a superb display to reach the final.

Portugal – who narrowly missed out on a European Championships place earlier this year – awaited Great Britain in the final where the host nation took the title with a 21-7 win.

Exeter’s Powell was the top scorer for Great Britain in the competition with 12 goals, whilst Salt and Atkinson both netted nine apiece.

Goalkeeper Tom Manley was arguably Great Britain’s player of the tournament, saving three penalties across five matches in the Portuguese capital.

You can re-watch all the matches on the ANNP Facebook page.

Image – Andreia Merca/ANNP Water Polo