Dominant North West Tigers cruise to U18 Boys' Inter-Regional crown

Four dominant performances from the North West Tigers saw them crowned U18 Boys’ Inter-Regional champions.

They finished with a 100 per cent record and a goal difference of plus 42 as they cruised to the title at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge International Pool.

The Tigers hit double figures in every game with head coach Zak Sly insisting: “We could not ask for anything more from the players.”

It looked to be a tough draw for the Tigers as they faced champions East and host North East Steelers on the opening day but they triumphed 18-6 and 18-7 respectively.

And they followed that up with a 12-8 victory against Ireland and a thumping 19-4 win over the London Sharks to take top spot.

Zak added: “They showed the dedication, teamwork and hard work required to win.

”The lads knew they had a hard first day against Champions East and host North East. In both games the team started strong and got stronger throughout each game, not dropping their level.

“Three high-quality training games against the Australian Schools touring side, Manchester Hawks and MMU before the tournament helped the team prepare and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their support.

”Well done to all the teams involved. We saw some high-quality games being played throughout the weekend and it looks good for the future of water polo.”=

North East Steelers took the silver medal after finishing second in Division One with a record of three wins and one defeat, while Ireland were the bronze medallists after finishing third on goal difference ahead of East.

Saltires clinch Division Two gold medal

In Division Two, Scotland Saltires avenged a group game defeat against South West to win the gold-medal play-off match.

South West had topped Group B with two wins from two, including their narrow 8-7 success against the Saltires.

That set-up a semi-final clash against South East, who had topped Group A with a 100 per cent record.

But their run was brought to a halt by Scotland, who booked their place in the final with a 5-3 victory.

South West defeated the Group A runners-up North West Ravens 13-5 to set-up the rematch with Scotland.

And this time it was the Saltires who were victorious as they ran out 11-8 winners.

North West Ravens took third spot as they won the third and fourth place play-off 9-2 against South East.

Division One

Division Two