The line-up is confirmed today for BWPL’s big end-of-season celebration event, the Champions Cup, which takes place at the Alan Higgs Centre, Coventry, on 12 and 13 April.

A terrific weekend of competition is guaranteed in women’s and men’s competitions, which have the added impetus of being the official qualifiers for teams targeting entry into Europe next year.

Only notable absentee will be Cheltenham, who chose not to take part in either the women’s or men’s tournaments despite top four finishes in the Super 5s. Cheltenham women, in particular, enjoyed a superb debut season at that level, finishing as runners-up behind perennial champions City of Manchester.

Their place goes to Otter, runaway winners of Championship 1 and Champions Cup gold medallists as recently as 2023. The London club willingly stepped up once Hucknall, fifth-place team in the Super 5s, said they preferred not to enter.

In the men’s competition, Welsh Wanderers, fifth in the Super 5s and only edged out by Cheltenham on goal difference, complete a formidable line-up.

BWPL Chairman David Andrews said: “What a great weekend is in prospect! At this point, I would like to express the League’s thanks to those clubs who we know have pulled out all the stops to ensure their presence at Coventry, ensuring the Champions Cup remains a premier event on the water polo calendar.”

Women’s teams: City of Manchester, Liverpool Lizards, Sheffield Sharks, Otter.
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Men’s: City of Manchester, Penguin, Polytechnic, Welsh Wanderers.

City of Manchester rounded off their women’s Super 5s season with a perfect record from eight games – including a hard-fought 14-10 defeat today of Liverpool Lizards.

This was the fourth consecutive season that the Super 5s title has been won by Manchester, who have been such a dominant force that their winning run in BWPL Division 1 and Super 5s matches now extends to 51!

Manchester’s last BWPL defeat? A single-goal reverse in January 2022 - to Liverpool Lizards.

Manchester didn’t have things all their own way today – Liverpool were level at 9-9 at the start of the final period when Amelie Cornell equalised.

It needed a late five-goal blast – through Lucy Blenkinship (2), Katy Cutler, Izzy Howe and Brooke Tafazolli – to make sure of the points for the champions before Liverpool’s Katie Brown responded at the end with her fifth goal of the match.

Liverpool’s defeat meant that Cheltenham rounded off a terrific first season in the Super 5s by finishing runners-up. They beat Sheffield Sharks 8-6 today, immediately taking charge by racing into a 4-1 lead in the first period – two goals each for Bella Balzaretti and Sofia Chaves – and improving this to 7-1 before three-goal Caitlin Silk led a Sheffield response. 

Penguin defeated Welsh Wanderers 16-12 at East Manchester today to clinch runners-up spot in the men’s Super 5s. They were always in charge after building a 6-2 advantage in the first period. Leading scorers were Charles Kingsmill (5), Sam Cocokios (3), Albie Duffy (2) and Adrian Carrieri (2).

Champions Manchester were given a run for their money by Polytechnic before rounding off the campaign with a 15-13 victory. Manchester were ahead for much of the game, although goals by David Rom and Kimon Haralambous enabled Poly to recover from 13-10 down to 13-12 during the final period.
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Rory Inman scored three for Manchester, with Joel Leighton, James Blenkinship, Harry Dunkerley (Photo: Trevor Hyde) and Dan Padden all contributing two.

City of Manchester today completed the BWPL Super 5s double for the fifth time, celebrating in front of a home crowd at East Manchester.

Even before the finale weekend began, Manchester had already sewn up the women’s title. And their supremacy was soon underlined when they defeated Sheffield Sharks 9-4, with Brooke Tafazolli scoring five and Izzy Howe four.

Target for the men was a win over Welsh Wanderers, which was comfortably achieved – 19-8. Scorers included James Blenkinship (4), Joe O’Regan (4), Ben Breech (3), and two each from Den Paddon, Guive Shafie and Mikey Patterson (Photo: Trevor Hyde).

Earlier, Penguin’s outside hopes of catching Manchester ended when they were restricted to two points by a 13-12 penalty shoot-out win over Cheltenham after the sides finished on 10-10 in regular time.

This has been an extraordinary men’s Super 5s campaign with no fewer than seven of the first 17 matches requiring a shoot-out decider.

For Cheltenham, this was the FOURTH time it had happened and their third defeat, including a 19-18 reverse in the first clash with Penguin earlier in the season.
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Cheltenham were actually 4-1 up after the first period of the latest meeting, but Penguin recovered to lead 6-5 after two periods, then 8-6 after three – before Alistair Bruce’s man-up strike 1.32 from the end earned Cheltenham a 10-10 draw. Consolation for Cheltenham was that a single point from a loss in shoot-out was sufficient to move them up to fourth place ahead of Wanderers.

Below: Champions again! Manchester celebrate after another successful season.

Otter completed a perfect women’s Championship 1 campaign with a resounding 25-7 victory over Tyldesley at Eton today. Sarah Snyder’s four goals took her tally in seven games to 33.

It means that next season will see Otter back in a new-look first division which for the first time features Watford and Kirkintilloch & Kilsyth. Both won their final matches today (16 March) to ensure promotion – Watford beat Exeter 18-4 and K&K won 17-7 against Coventry.
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The remaining five teams in Championship 1 begin next season in Division 2 along with Rotherham Metro (who qualified as the sixth team in Division 2) and two teams from the play-off tournament next month.  
Photo (Trevor Hyde): Otter celebrate victory. Back row (L-R) Rebecca Mulcahy, Evangeline Mills, Tilda Williams, Emma Gaffney, Sophie Schonbach, Rachel Bull, Cassandra Day. Front: Philippa Danielson, Isabelle Dean, Emily Campbell-Lamerton, Sarah Snyder, Lucy-Mai Brazier-Helliwell.

Olympic rivalries were revived as Watford defeated Kirkintilloch & Kilsyth 12-10 in women’s Championship 1 at Eton College today.

Watford included former American Olympian Makenzie Fischer, whose sister and fellow international Aria was the team’s assistant coach, while the Scots line-up featured Italian international Elisa Queirolo. All three were rivals at the 2016 Olympics when the US were crowned champions.

There was never much between the sides, although Makenzie Fischer’s defensive qualities were very much an influence on the game. She and Lottie Winstanley both scored three.
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Both teams will still be targeting top three places when the Championship 1 programme concludes tomorrow. Otter are already guaranteed progress to Division 1 next after maintaining their 100 per cent record with an 18-4 defeat of Worthing. Sarah Snyder scored seven. 

Photos (Trevor Hyde) - Above: Old rivals meet up again. Elisa Queirolo with the Fischer sisters at Eton today. Below: Sarah Snyder in unstoppable form for Otter against Worthing.

After defeat by Sheffield on day one of a closely-fought men’s Championship 1 finale weekend at Haberdashers, Sutton & Cheam bounced back today to claim the title with a 9-6 victory over Sedgefield.

Consolation for Sedgefield is that they also qualify for Division 1 next season along with Watford, who beat Sheffield 14-12 after a penalty shoot-out (11-11 at full time) in a most dramatic finish.

Spare a thought for Sheffield.  Earlier this season, they narrowly missed qualification for the Super 5s, despite wins in Division 1 against City of Manchester and Polytechnic. Losing out this time to Watford nudged Sheffield out of the top three, which means they must start all over again in Division 2 next September.

The Watford game could not have been closer. Sheffield led 10-8 midway through the final period, only for Zac Corcoran (Photo: Trevor Hyde) to bring Watford level with two strikes. With 1.08 left, Sheffield were ahead again – Elliot Kelly scored – but up popped Corcoran 52 seconds from the end to make it 11-11 and to set up the shoot-out decider.

Shoot-out success brought Watford level on points with Sutton, but it was advantage Sutton thanks a win when they played Watford in January.  
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In other matches, Worthing completed an excellent campaign with a second win of the weekend – 12-9 against Caledonia. George Wood scored four.

Photo, below (Trevor Hyde): Jackson Mullins (W3) on the attack for Sutton & Cheam during their key win over Sedgefield.

Exeter are men’s Championship 2 winners! But the final day at Gloucester could so easily have been a story of Lancaster spoiling the party.

The title-clinching win Exeter needed looked a formality against the division’s basesment team, who quickly were 4-1 down. But this was the best Exeter could manage because, after that, it was Lancaster who demonstrated all the enterprise and spirit, claiming a narrow lead three times before Joe Davies brought relief to Exeter by scoring the goal that levelled it at 7-7 at the start of the last period.

Finally, Exeter stirred and goals by Kam Powell, Jack Cutting and Alejandro Marcos built a 10-8 lead. There was still just time for Lancaster to respond again – through Ben Giles – but Exeter held out for a 10-9 victory and the trophy was on its way to Devon.

Exeter head for Division 2 at the start of next season along with Hucknall, 17-8 winners against City of Bristol, and Cheltenham Spartans, who demolished Manchester Hawks 23-13.  

​Remaining Championship 2 teams go to Division 3, which will also include Croydon – qualifiers from Division 3 earlier this season – and the top two teams from the play-off tournament next month. 

​Sedgefield lead men’s Championship 1 after day one of the finale weekend at Haberdashers. In only their fourth year in the British League, they look set to take the next leap up the ladder by qualifying for Division 1 at the start of next season.
 
The top three in Championship 1 all go through. But the teams that make it won’t be known until the programme is completed tomorrow. That’s when the four main contenders face off against each other – Sedgefield play Sutton & Cheam while Watford lock horns with Sheffield.
 
Sheffield went 6-nil ahead against Sutton today before winning 12-6. Chris Armstrong scored three and Connor Carpenter, Corran Bradley and Arshia Keyghobadi two each.
 
Sedgefield were held to a 12-12 draw by Watford before winning the shoot-out to finish 16-14. In a game that was close throughout, Watford led 10-9 at the start of the fourth period, only to be hit by a three-goal blast from Sedgefield via John Pratt, Ben Alderson and Ben Stephenson. Watford needed late goals by Josh Pender and Jack Warman to snatch the draw.
 
Late goals by Ethan Lecuyer and Joao Martins earned Worthing a 17-15 win against Portobello after the teams began the last period at 12-12. Caledonia and Invicta were tied at 13-13 before the Scots won through 15-14 thanks to strikes by Rory Nesbitt and Max Rowley-Sanchez.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Sedgefield goalie Bernardo Maurizi and Kris Egginton (blue 3) thwart a Watford attack led by Dusan Crompton (White 5).

Hucknall staged a remarkable fightback from seven goals in arrears to clinch a 13-13 draw with Cheltenham Spartans in men's Championship 2 at Gloucester today. They followed up by edging the shoot-out to win 17-16, collecting the two points that put them on target for a top three place – with its reward of progress to Division 2 at the start of next season.
 
Exeter remain favourites to win the title, overpowering Bridgefield 20-8. They will be guaranteed first place if they win a final game against Lancaster tomorrow.
 
Hucknall were up against a very experienced Spartans team, led by ex-GB Olympian Rob Parker (Photo: Trevor Hyde). Cheltenham seemed totally in control after building a 12-5 lead in the first two periods. Spartans were still 13-10 up in the early stages of the final quarter, only for Hucknall to hit back through Peppe Valentino, Dylan Patist and - 45 seconds from the end - skipper Sam Joyce.
 
City of Bristol stayed in contention for the top three with a 15-12 win against Manchester Hawks, Nathan Brown's five goals taking his tally in Championship 2 to 29. Dan Shunn (4) and Charles Roberts (3) led the scoring for Southampton in a 13-10 win against Lancaster.