City of Manchester remain firmly on course to repeat last year's double triumph in the men's and women's Super 5s.

Neither team has dropped a point so far. And today's successes at East Manchester maintained that run - the men defeated Invicta 12-8 while Manchester's girls were far too good for Liverpool Lizards, winning 19-6, including another six-goal haul for the division's leading scorer, Annie Clapperton, and five from Izzy Howe (Photo: Trevor Hyde).

Earlier, Sheffield were held to an 8-8 draw by Lancaster, who recovered from 8-5 down in the last four minutes with goals by Tom Curwen (2) and John Pratt. Invicta beat Solihull 10-8.

Rotherham Metro's success in women's Championship 2 leaves second and third places - and promotion to Division 2 next season - to be decided on the final day tomorrow. Exeter are very much in contention after their 13-5 win over Cheltenham while Penguin Emperors are also in the mix, having won their latest match against English Roses, 10-5.

Rotherham Metro clinched the women’s Championship 2 crown in emphatic style at Northampton School for Boys School today, hammering nearest rivals Liverpool Liver Birds 16-4.

The sides finished the first quarter at 2-2 and it was 5-2 to Rotherham after two. Then the new champions really took charge, scoring seven in the third  through Lucy Hobman (2), Amber Linney, Emma Jackson, Emily Crossley, Kate Parkin and Becky Lee.

Hat-tricks by Lucy Bullock, Grace Turner and Faye Poole helped Otter Lutra to a 13-8 win against Southampton.

In the women’s Super 5s at East Manchester Leisure Centre, Coventry hit back from 7-3 down to Otter in the last quarter to draw 7-7 thanks to three goals from Sophie Linney and one from Vicki Hawkins. It was the second time the teams had drawn this season in the Super 5s – and Otter’s third draw.
​
Liverpool Lizards beat Sheffield Sharks 7-3, controlling the final period with goals by Molly Boniface-Ashton (Photo: Trevor Hyde), Sophie Gilbert and Katie Hesketh.
​

The death has occurred of Barrie Davenport, former leading player, referee and GB junior coach, who gave many years’ devoted service to his home club, Walsall. He was 83.

Barrie played for the Birmingham & District League (now Midland League) when it entered a team in the inaugural season of the former men’s National League in 1963 and two years later was a key figure in Walsall’s decision to join the League in its own right.

At one stage in the 1960s, the Walsall club was so strong that it entered two teams in NWPL.

Barrie, who ran an engineering business, and his wife Jose had four children – Ian, Helen, Sharon and Angela – all of them prominently involved at Walsall SC. Jose herself set up the synchro at Walsall; Ian played water polo for the club for a number of years and still coaches there. Angela specialised in synchro – she now coaches at the Reading club and is an England Masters’ synchro champion – while Sharon (Worthington) is well known as a BWPL event manager and table official.
​
During his water polo career, Barrie was a top grade referee, officiating at home internationals. He coached GB juniors alongside Manchester’s Mike Glover.

​The funeral takes place at 1pm on 20 March at Streetly Crematorium, Little Hardwick Road, Aldridge, Walsall, WS9 OSG.
​

Polytechnic hold a one-point lead in men’s Championship 1 after defeating Welsh Wanderers 15-3, including hat-tricks for Chris Brown, Sergio Schiaffino and Jamie Cameron. But the struggle for the title will go to the wire, with Cheltenham and Caledonia very much in contention after the latest round of matches at Haberdashers.

​Significantly, Poly clash with Cheltenham at the Grantham finale on 14/15 March.  

Cheltenham were pushed all the way before defeating Sutton & Cheam 9-8 in an excellent match. After the first quarter, Sutton led 3-2. Cheltenham recovered to grab a 5-4 advantage after two periods and, from then on, maintained a narrow lead. Tom Hunt scored four for Cheltenham while Stephen Bayles led the Sutton challenge with five.

Zach White scored five as Watford beat Portobello 11-9. Also on target with five was Finlay Nesbitt in Caledonia’s 14-7 win against Exeter.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): No progress for Sutton & Cheam's Ryan Symington thanks to the efforts of Cheltenham pair Rudi Polster (blue 7) and Tom Hunt.

Coincidence doesn’t happen, or so some people say. The British Army team know without question that it does . . . based on their experience today at the men’s Championship 4 finale at Walsall, where they claimed the third promotion spot to Division 4 next season by the narrowest of margins.

The Army ended their campaign by drawing 12-12 with Caledonia Storm, which, with Leeds subsequently defeating Newport 18-14, meant the Army and Leeds finished level on points. As the Army-Leeds match the previous day ended in a draw, also 12-12, it left the placings to be settled by goal difference throughout the Championship 4 campaign – which favoured the Army by a single goal!

Turn the clock back 12 months and this is what took place. The Army ended level on points with Watford Saxons but, because the meeting of those sides was drawn, the third position had to be decided by overall goal difference. It favoured the Army – by a single goal!

Sheffield Dolphins took the Championship 4 crown, defeating Coventry 16-10 including goals by Arshia Keyghobadi (5), Miles Robinson (3), Miles Ralston (3) and Clay Collins (3). Despite their defeat by Leeds, Newport finished runners-up. A remarkable feature of that game was an 11-goal contribution for Newport by Chris Taylor.

Photo: Dolphins celebrate! Back row, L-R: Miles Robinson, Ethan Carpenter,  Mathew Collier, Devrim Sacmacioglu, Martin Kelly(coach), Miles Ralston, Connor Charles. Front: Corran Bradley, Ben Urquhart, Nick Daly, captain James Newsam, Arshia Keyghobadi, Dan Harris, Clay Collins, Paul Robinson (team manager).
​
Footnote: Leeds have now confirmed their withdrawal from BWPL.
​

Victory in their final Championship 4 match at Walsall tomorrow against bottom team Coventry will guarantee Sheffield Dolphins the title and a move up to Division 4 at the start of next season.

In their latest match, Dolphins had no problem in accounting for Cambridge, 17-8. Once again, it was top marksman Arshia Keyghobadi who led the way with a tally of seven. Undefeated Newport finish their programme against Leeds and, in their first season in BWPL, can look forward to competing in Division 4 next September. The British Army are best placed to claim the third promotion spot.

​The meeting of the two top teams in men’s Championship 1 produced the predictable close match at Haberdashers today, Polytechnic edging out Caledonia 11-10.

Poly looked favourites to take the points as they claimed an 11-8 lead with just over four minutes remaining. A Matt Crichton goal gave the Scots hope but they were unable to break through again until 20 seconds from the end, when Finlay Nesbitt netted. Four Poly players each contributed two goals – Chris Brown, Nick Hock, Sergio Schiaffino and Hadrien Collineau.

There was another close thriller earlier on as Cheltenham came from behind in the final quarter to beat Watford 10-9. Watford score three times near the end of the third period – through Andy Holt, Cameron Baker and a Hamish Crichton penalty – to go 8-6 up. Cheltenham were soon ahead again at 9-8 thanks to goals by Simon Almond, Tom Hunt and Will Middleton, only for Zach White to equalise with 2.31 to go. The man-up winner was fired by Jake Polster, 1.27 from the end.

Exeter were ahead for much of their game against Welsh Wanderers, but the Welsh recovered to win 13-11 with late goals by Joe Jenkins-Delf (2) and Ceri Griffiths.

Later, Cheltenham won for a second time - 8-3 against Welsh Wanderers. Portobello beat Sutton & Cheam 8-7 - the sixth time so far this season that this highly competitive division has produced a single-goal victory.
​
Photo (Trevor Hyde): Peter Pickford and the Watford defence under pressure as Cheltenham's Joe Berry shoots at Haberdashers today.

Big news!! The British League is set to give water polo in this country a massive boost with the introduction of a new competition – the Champions Cup.

It will involve the top four men’s and women’s teams from the Super 5s and make its debut at Haberdashers’ Aske’s School, Hertfordshire, on 25/26 April – in front of television cameras, subject to securing the required sponsorship. Importantly, the winners will qualify for entry to the EU Nations Cup.

This will be the format for both competitions:

Semi-finals involving 1st in the Super 5s v 4th and 2nd v 3rd, the winners progressing to a final for gold/silver medals; and the semi-finals losers playing off for bronze. When matches are drawn, there will be the drama of penalty shoot-outs.
​
BWPL chairman David Andrews said today: “The Champions Cup will provide a much-needed shot in the arm for British water polo. Our leading clubs, who have all given this initiative their full support, are always telling us that they need more quality matches. This will help to meet that demand – and give Britain’s top players an exciting new opportunity to showcase their skills.”
​

Penguin stay top after the latest round of men’s Championship 2 matches – but it was only in the very last second that they rescued a point in a dramatic 10-10 draw with Worthing at Marlborough College!

After a heavy defeat at the hands of Otter on day one, Worthing were a transformed team, racing into a 3-0 lead early on with goals by George Wood, Alexandru Georgescu and Ilias Tzeraisi. They were 5-3 to the good after two periods and 7-6 after three. And it wasn’t until Lorenzo Cacciola (Photo: Trevor Hyde) scored a breakaway goal two minutes into the last quarter that Penguin led for the first time at 8-7.

A thrilling match went to 8-8, 9-9 and then 10-9 in favour of Worthing. And there were just 12 seconds remaining when Worthing suffered an exclusion and Penguin called a time-out – summoning goalkeeper Elliot McHugh to join a seven-man attack which ended with James Salt equalising with a single, precious second remaining on the clock.

Manchester Hawks are in second place a point behind Penguin after staging a late fightback to beat Durham Palatinates 13-11 at Bolton. Durham were ahead for much of the game and it needed a Lewis Daly man-up goal at the end of the third period to put the Hawks ahead for the first time at 11-10. Daly and 15-year-old Harry Bentham ensured victory with further goals in the last period.

Otter, 17-7 winners against Bristol, and Birmingham, who beat Castleford 15-8, are among teams aiming for top three places and promotion to Division 2 next season when the Championship 2 finale takes place at Haberdashers on 7/8 March.
​

Cheltenham Spartans already have one hand on the Championship 3 trophy after resisting a strong challenge from Croydon to win 15-13 at Marlborough College. It was the Spartans’ fifth victory in a dominant campaign, leaving them four points clear of a clutch of teams for whom top three places will be the target when the season finishes at Haberdashers on 14/15 March.

Croydon were very much in contention throughout, trailing only 11-10 after three quarters before Cheltenham took charge. Outstanding for Spartans was first-teamer Michael Thomas (Photo: Trevor Hyde), whose four goals were just as significant as his outstanding work in defence.

At Bolton, Rotherham Metro completed a hat-trick of weekend wins, beating Bridgefield 13-10, including a five-goal haul for Oliver Vodden. York City trailed Tyldesley 9-7 midway through the third period but goals by Liam Fletcher, Joe Rippon, Chris Burns and Nick Boaz set up a 14-11 victory.
​