Manchester crowned U15 Champions after final win against Watford

Finals day at the U15 National Age Group Championships delivered everything the crowd at Manchester Aquatics Centre hoped for – high-tempo water polo, standout individual performances and a title match that lived up to its billing.

After a packed day of play-off and classification fixtures, City of Manchester were crowned national champions following another absorbing final against Watford, repeating the match-up seen in 2023.

Manchester defend home water to take the title

Manchester’s route to the final included an impressive 6–2 semi-final win over West London Penguin, where Harry Peters struck his 11th goal of the weekend and Ethan Mellor fired in four goals, setting the tone for Manchester’s push to the gold-medal match.

City of Manchester claimed gold with a composed, disciplined performance in the final. They stamped their authority on the final from the opening sprint, with captain Mellor scoring the first goal of the match.

Watford responded quickly through Noah O’Sullivan, but Mellor struck again to give Manchester a 2–1 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Watford once again levelled the score early in the second quarter through Luka Guzijan, but from there, Manchester began to take control. Mellor completed his hat-trick to make it 3–2, before Alex Pinto-Palin extended the lead to two goals for the first time in the final.

Momentum swung in Manchester’s favour as they added another to move 5–2 ahead, and a final clinical finish sent them into half-time with a commanding 6–2 advantage.

From that point on, Manchester had the game firmly in hand, managing the tempo and keeping Watford at arm’s length on both ends of the pool. Their defensive stability was anchored by their goalkeeper, Caelan Mathewson, whose standout performance in the goal earned him MVP of the final. They went on to close out the match with a 10-2 victory to retain their national title.

On the victory, Manchester’s head coach Sebastian Long said: “Fantastic work from all of them. We’ve been training on this programme together for nine months now.

“They’ve come a long way to get to this stage. I think the biggest improvement came when we went to Portugal two weeks ago to train for five days. From that, we levelled up as a squad.”

Watford’s journey to the final, however, after finishing 7th last year, was one of the stories of the championship. Noah Green’s late semi-final goal had sent them into the title match, and the squad showed grit and belief throughout. They finish the weekend as national runners-up, just like in 2023.

Despite the defeat, Watford did not leave empty-handed: their own shot-stopper, Jeremy Rotenberg, was recognised with the Top Goalkeeper award after a string of exceptional displays across the weekend.

Exeter secure brilliant bronze

Exeter, who finished 6th in 2024, stepped up in style this year to take 3rd place, defeating West London Penguin with 18-3 in the bronze-medal match.

After narrowly missing out on the final, due to their loss against Watford in the morning, they regrouped impressively and dominated their final match from the start.

The Group D winners spread contributions across the team all tournament long, including key moments from Yousef Chaabane, who scored a hat-trick in the opening quarter against the London side.

Penguin – last year’s champions – finished 4th after another strong showing at the top end of the competition.

Further results

Croydon Amphibians closed out an impressive weekend by beating Sedgefield to claim 5th place, backing up their earlier 14–4 win over Caledonia.

Sedgefield finished 6th, while Caledonia secured 7th and Worthing – much improved from last year’s 11th – placed 8th.

Newton Abbot delivered one of the strongest outings of the morning session with a 16–7 win over Lewisham, followed by a confident performance in the 9th–10th classification match against Cheltenham (10-2) to take 9th place. Their player Henry Bagott secured the Top Scorer award.

Simultaneously on the other pitch, North London took 11th, with Lewisham in 12th after a very close game.

Colchester and Sheffield contested a spirited 13th–14th playoff, with Colchester earning 13th place after a 6–4 victory. City of Sheffield followed in 14th.

Radcliffe secured 15th, defeating Barnet, who finish the weekend in 16th.

To view all results and final standings, please visit Swim England’s scoreboard page.