Proud England and Great Britain return to competitive action at EU Nations Cup

England and Great Britain’s water polo developmental squads can be proud of their performances at the Senior Men’s EU Nations Cup event in Brno, Czechia last weekend.

Great Britain’s U19 squad travelled to Czechia whilst a mixture of England’s senior men’s side and some of the GB U19 group represented England at the “Za Lužánkami” pool.

Both teams battled hard and were incredibly competitive against a number of senior international sides which will prove to be vital preparation for GB’s U19s ahead of next year’s European Championships qualifiers.

England ended up finishing in seventh with Great Britain tenth after three days of thrilling water polo action.

Nick Hume’s England started off their campaign in a group with Finland and eventual champions Euskal Selekzioa.

They defeated Finland 11-7 to get their tournament off to the perfect start with six goals in the final period firing them to victory.

Kameron Powell netted four times throughout the contest with James Salt adding a hat trick in a strong display to start off the tournament.

They then played out a competitive match-up with Euskal Selekzioa in what was the Basque Country’s side closest match of the tournament.

England were beaten 13-10 by a side who have several players that represent clubs at the top level in Spain.

In a strong performance, England fought back from 8-2 down at half time, winning both the final two quarters as they fell to a narrow defeat.

The results meant England finished second in the three-team group which put them into a group of four to battle it out for 5-8 place. 

Late drama

Amongst England’s group were Austria, Denmark and Sweden where they once again started brightly thanks to a 17-10 victory against the Austrians.

Salt top scored in the match with five with Daniel Atkinson impressing to grab four and Kameron Powell netting another hat trick – one of four for the tournament. 

Unfortunately, a slow start put them on the back foot against Denmark where they were beaten 12-8 before a thrilling finale with Sweden on Sunday.

England were 9-3 down after three quarters but another impressive fight back saw them rescue a 9-9 draw after scoring six unanswered goals in the final period.

Kameron Powell got his fourth of the match with just 28 seconds to go to spark celebrations from the England bench as they ended their tournament on a high. 

As for Great Britain, they faced a tough initial group where the United States of America came out on top.

They lost 20-11 to the American before a 10-5 defeat to Austria which meant they were playing for 9-12 place at the event.

The tournament for Tim Dunsbee’s side took off from there with an even later equaliser earning them a 13-13 draw with Finland. 

Ben Alderson stunned the arena in Brno as he scored in the last second to get GB back on level terms in an incredibly tight contest.

The goal was Alderson’s second of the match with four from Alistair Cook, three from Reuben Powell and two from Edward Meeks helping Great Britain to their first point of the competition. Murray Dickson and Daniel Preston completed GB’s scoring.

Vital experience

They built on that draw to record their first win of the competition against Wales’ senior men’s side.

Great Britain controlled the game from the off in a 12-8 win where Reuben Powell, Alderson and Cook all scored a hat trick.

Henry Jackson, Pierre Rivet and Daniel Preston also got on the scoresheet to put Great Britain in a promising position in the group.

Going into their final match against the hosts, Czech Republic, a win would have seen them top the group and place ninth but a last second goal saw them lose 19-18 in an exciting game.

After going 5-1 down in the opening quarter, Great Britain fought back with Reuben Powell in unstoppable form going forward.

He scored an incredible eight times in the match to help bring his side back into the game by half time. 

The two sides traded goals across the second half but it was the hosts that snatched the winner in a nervy final few minutes.

Those final few results gave Great Britain plenty of positives to take home as they gained more vital experience ahead of the European Championships campaign.

Great Britain’s Reuben Powell was the fourth top scorer across the tournament with 18 in five matches whilst England’s top scorer Kameron Powell was eight in the scoring charts with 15.

To catch up on all the results you can also visit the event website or you can watch all the matches back via the Czech Water Polo YouTube channel.

England images courtesy of Czech Water Polo – images from the competition can be viewed here.