England's senior men mark return with top ten finish at EU Nations Cup

A youthful England senior men’s water polo team returned to competition with a tenth-place finish at the EU Nations Cup in Brno, Czechia at the weekend.

The 13-strong group bounced back from two defeats on the opening day to claim a top ten finish after strong victories against Austria and Wales.

The standout win came against a strong Austrian side, where England put in a battling performance to hold on to their narrow lead in the final quarter.

It was a close game throughout, with England edging both the opening quarters by a single goal to lead 9-7 by half time.

A late strike in the opening period from Henry Broadhurst gave England that early advantage after Cayden Down, Kameron Powell and John Pratt opened the teams scoring.

Ben Alderson’s double plus goals from Alistair Cook, Louie McKie and a second for Kameron Powell helped extend their lead to two at half time – but Austria weren’t giving up without a fight.

They fought back in the final period after an even third quarter to reduce the deficit in the closing minutes.

A penalty with two minutes left on the clock brought them within two and when they pulled another one back 30 seconds from time they were pushing to take the game to penalties.

But England defended strongly in the closing stages to hold on to the victory and take away their first win of the competition on Saturday morning.

The perfect response

The win against Austria was the perfect response to the two defeats they suffered earlier in the competition.

They opened up their campaign with a 12-10 defeat to Denmark before falling to a 21-10 defeat to eventual champions Portugal which unfortunately put England into the 9-12 place group for the remainder of the event.

Defeating Austria gave England a strong start to that group but a loss to Finland on Saturday afternoon saw the fins take advantage in the table.

In a reverse of the game against Austria, it was Finland who took the early advantage in another close contest.

A poor start to the fourth quarter saw Finland put the game just beyond reach as they moved into 12-7 advantage.

England battled back in the closing stages but couldn’t quite get back on level terms despite netting three unanswered goals in the final few minutes.

Cook and Reuben Powell both impressed in front of goal during the 12-10 defeat, as they each grabbed a hat trick with Kameron Powell’s double and strikes from McKie and Alex Sharpe completing the scoring.

That meant England went into the final game needing a win to have a chance of topping the overall table where they delivered to end their competition on a high.

A 14-11 win over Wales put England onto six points and guaranteed them a top ten finish and saw them needing Austria to beat Finland to top the group.

Unfortunately, the fins came out on top to make it three wins from three and secure ninth place with England tenth.

The action in Brno isn’t yet over as England’s U18s women’s team are preparing to head to Czechia in two weeks’ time for the junior women’s competition. You can see the England’s full squad for that event here.

You can see all of England’s results and scorers at the EU Nations Cup and can catch up on all the results from the competition here. Each of the matches are also available to watch back on the Czech Water Polo YouTube channel.