Britain progress to world champs round of 16

Having led off their campaign with a brilliant 12-9 win over France, Great Britain women’s water polo team next faced South Africa – a team they despatched a 14-5 win over last year at Doha 2024.

Racing to a 5-0 lead set the team off on fantastic footing with a clean sheet into the first break, while an even second quarter in which Toula Falvey completed her hat-trick produced a halftime scoreline of 7-2.

Harriet Dickens – who would later receive the player of the match award – opened up the scoring after the restart with back-to-back goals as the British team extended their hold on the fixture, while Lily Turner closed out the scoring with her fourth of the match as it concluded 12-3.

“It feels really good [to win]. We've worked really hard on the preparation for this tournament and to get the second win is just a great achievement for our young upcoming team. We're looking forward to playing Spain, which hopefully should be a good game,” said 19-year-old Dickens,

“I like that I can step up into the role when the team needs me to and learn from the older girls in the team.”

As reigning Olympic champions, Spain would be tough opposition to overcome in the top of the Group D table clash, and Britain were pegged to 4-0 down in the first quarter.

At 5-0 down Katy Cutler had a penalty saved, but momentum was growing and with Sophie Jackson making a number of good blocks in the British goal – the standout of which outstretched save to push the ball around the post in the lead up to halftime – a move was engineered to get Lily Turner crossing in from wide right to an open Lucy Blenkinship who fired it through the Spaniards posts.

A change of ends and resuming at 7-1 down, Great Britain won the sprint to begin their play with an attacking move. Though conceding the first goal of the third quarter, a period of play ensued with Great Britain the more decisive attacking force as Anya Clapperton finished of a move with a smart backhand shot, Blenkinship again got central to fire in and Izzy Howe launched a long range shot into the top corner.

Lily Turner calmly converted the first of two penalties with a low bouncing effort to the keepers left, before again taking command from the penalty spot with another rasping effort to make it 10-6 going into the final break.

The Olympic champions kicked back on a gear however to open the scoreline gap back up between the sides at the beginning of the last quarter. A timeout to regroup and take onboard Theo Nousios tactical adjustments was quickly followed by Izzy Howe’s second goal of the match with a fierce shot from a narrow angle as Great Britain continue their hard-fought efforts until the close.

Speaking to World Aquatics after the match, captain Kathy Rogers said:

“Coming in playing the Olympic champions is always going to be a big challenge but it’s also a really cool experience to play a team that strong. We’re developing as a nation, and our aim coming into big games like this is to always get closer and closer to the opposition.

“Today, we really did ourselves proud. There were moments where we felt like we were keeping up with them and we were keeping strong. I’m really proud of the girls, I’m really proud of how we can get scored on a few times in a row, then hit a switch to focus and regain momentum.”

On outscoring Spain in the third period, Rogers added:

“I think when we come into big games you get a bit anxious and nervous. Spain are physically a strong team so you get this punch, almost. At halftime we realised, we actually can compete with them. We had positive energy at halftime and then we put that into the third quarter.”

The 16-7 defeat by Spain places Great Britain second in Group D, and a fixture in the first of the crossover matches on Thursday 17th July against third place finisher of Group C, Japan.

Stream live free-to-air coverage of the World Aquatics Championships 2025 taking place in Singapore at www.aquaticsgb.com/live.