Aussie Juniors Face Red Hot Croatian Team

The Australian Junior Men’s water polo team has suffered an 11-5 loss at the hands of Croatia in their second match in Szombathely, Hungary.

Despite their best efforts to stage a recovery it was a slow start which put the Australians on the back foot. From that point on the Aussies upped the tempo, putting the Croatians under pressure in the centre forward position, however missed opportunities made it difficult to reign in the opposition.

Australian captain Paul Sindone was disappointed with the way the Australians started, but was able to put the loss in perspective of the team’s overall World Championship campaign.

“We didn’t have a good start, failing to capitalise on early opportunities. Unfortunately we couldn’t quite claw them back,” Sindone said.

“However it is good this happens now, we can regroup and fight back better than ever tomorrow.”

The Croatians jumped to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter, playing a heavy press that ensured they thwarted Australia’s early plan of a strong driving and swimming game. Unlike the Australian side, the Croatians also capitalised on their extra man opportunities, scoring three from three.

The second quarter saw the Aussies return fire, matching the Croatians in their hard-press, which saw them head into half-time 6-2 down.

Irrespective of their best efforts, some missed opportunities in the third allowed Croatia to slightly extend their lead again, before the Australians halted their advantage in the fourth, levelling the term at 2-2.

Australian assistant coach Simon Daley picked out the positives of the match and turned his attention the boys’ next game against Kazakhstan.

“The lads didn’t arrive to play today and we can’t afford to give a team with the pedigree of Croatia a solid start of five goals,” Daley said.

“To our credit, the guys showed fight by gaining many exclusions, but we failed to capitalise at critical times. We now have to re-group for Kazakhstan.”

Australian keeper Gabriel Addley again had a strong match making seven saves, whilst Gordon Marshall and Paul Sindone worked tirelessly in attack earning four and three exclusions respectively.

The Australian team contains two WAIS scholarship holders, with both George Ford and Luke Pavillard in the squad.

Earlier:

The Australian Junior Men’s water polo team began its FINA World Junior Championship campaign in style defeating Asian neighbours Japan 15-7 in an impressive display in Szombathely, Hungary.

Skipper Paul Sindone led the charge with five goals as the Australians powered home with a 10-5 second half to overwhelm the Japanese.

Coach Duncan Greenbank was pleased with the opening victory and said his team would only continue to improve throughout the championships.

“It’s a good start to the tournament and we will improve each game,” Greenbank said.

-WaterPoloAustralia