Manchester.-- Olympic champion Australia gave a taste of things to come when it defeated world number three Canada 9-6 on the second day's play of the Commonwealth Water Polo Championships at the Manchester Aquatics Centre here today. Canada's women rebounded from a bad start to the tournament yesterday and led 5-4 at halftime but Australia's 3-1 final quarter proved the difference. Both teams are expected to play the final on Sunday so the win was a psychological boost for the Aussies.
South Africa women started their campaign with a 9-4 win over Northern Ireland and it joins Australia as the only unbeaten teams in the competition.
Malta men upstaged the younger South Africans 12-9 after earlier having a hefty lead and Singapore downed Wales 8-5.
Malta, South Africa and Singapore have a win and a loss each in Group A with Australia unblemished on one win.
Group B competition starts tomorrow with Canada, England, Northern Ireland
and New Zealand entering the fray.

Day 2 Media Release

Manchester (March 25).-- England proved the surprise packet on the opening day of the inaugural Commonwealth Water Polo Championships at the Manchester Aquatics Centre here yesterday.
Set the almost impossible task of beating the third best team in the world ‹Canada ‹ England gave it a good shot and nearly came away with the victory.
Canada won 4-2 but not before England laid siege to the Canadian goal, pressuring the World Championship bronze medallist into a multitude of errors. Gone was the class of last year as Canada slipped and slid around the pool with England snapping at their heels, lapping up the mistakes and converting them into attacking chances.
Sadly for England, too many shooting opportunities went astray but the basis has been laid for what could be an excellent championship with a medal a distinct possibility.
The host nation was kept in the game through the marvellous goalkeeping of Jennifer Braddock, who thwarted many a certain goal.
South Africa asserted its medal chances in men's play with a 15-3 crushing of Singapore and title favourite Australia dispatched Malta 14-2 after a scrappy first half.
This afternoon, South Africa women battled it out with Northern Ireland in the first half before pulling away to win 9-4.

SOUTH AFRICA - 9 T.Heydenrych (4), S .Van Den Berg (2), N.Poulos (1), M-R.Graham (1), E.Thomson (1)

NORTHERN IRELAND - 4 N.McGurk (2), R.McGuigan (1), B.O'Hagan (1)

Referees: Scott Schweickle (AUS), Andrew Hill (WAL)

Tammy Heydenrych opened the scoring for South Africa on extra from left-hand catch at 6:18. A similar chance soon after fails with several bad passes. Ruth McGuigan makes the most of the next attack with a long lob over South African goalkeeper Nicki Van Houten at 4:44. Stacey van den Berg scores on extra for a 2-1 lead but then Nuala McGurk levelled the game at 3:18 with a flick in on the rebound. Nikki Poulos drives from halfway and lobs Northern Ireland goalkeeper Sarah Brannigan at 2:40 for a 3-2 lead. Four other South African chances go begging before Irish woman Elaine Walker draws a penalty foul on goalie Van Houten. McGurk sees her penalty attempt stopped by Van Houten in the bottom left. Van den Berg looses a shot off at point-blank range to Brannigan, who stops. However, van den Berg regains the ball and pushes it into goal for a 4-2 lead, 4.5 seconds from quarter time.
At the start of the second period, Northern Ireland nearly gains an extra-player goal as the excluded South African player fails to see the flag, giving the Irish more than 30 seconds on attack. Brannigan again saves a goal on player down. McGurk fires from the top on the next attack and scores at 3:30 to narrow the margin to 4-3. Heydenrych swims in close to goal on extra and beats Brannigan to go 5-3 up at 1:51. Morgan-Rae Graham repeats the dose on extra at 0:54 from centre forward. Heydenrych repeated her shot of before from the same position at 11 seconds for a 7-3 halftime lead.
Bronwyn O'Hagan lifted Irish spirits with a sharp shot at 5:18 from left-hand catch, narrowing the gap to 7-4. Heydenrych scored her fourth when she received a long cross pass from Poulos on the drive at 4:04. Both teams played themselves to a near standstill as attack after attack failed to bear fruit. South Africa carried an 8-4 lead into the final quarter. South African coach Brad Rowe called a time-out after his team won the ball on the swim to maximise an extra-player situation. Eleanor Thomson eventually scored a backhand from centre forward at 6:30. Northern Ireland called a time-out at 3:41 but not when on extra. Both teams had their chances but good goalkeeping by both teams kept the game scoreless until the final whistle when the referee called a penalty against South African goalkeeper van Houten. Mandy Irvine took the shot but van Houten, as she did before, stopped the attempt and the game ended. Northern Ireland's problems stemmed from the major foul count which had it registering 12 to South Africa's three.

MALTA - 12 N.Lanzon (3), J Valletta, C.De Bono (2), M.Pisani (2) J.Soler (1), P.Privitera (1), J.Paris (1)

SOUTH AFRICA - 9 A.Stewart (2), W.Cowden (2), J.Oosthuizen (2),MM M.Bond (1), R.Bell (1), S.Daley (1)

Referees: Stéphane Roy (CAN), Gaetan Turcotte (CAN

South Africa opened with a goal through Mike Bond on double extra at 5:30. Both goalkeepers made several excellent saves each and then South Africa's Paul Tselentis erred by passing under pressure to the centre forward who had the ball stolen from him by Niki Lanzon, who in turn converted at 3:54. On the next attack, Clint De Bono, the Australian-domiciled player, fired the ball in from out top to go 2-1 up at 3:10. Matthew Pisani converted on extra off the far post, the ball just dribbling across the line after a fumbled shot at 0:59. Jonathan Valletta scored a fantastic counter-attack goal when heavily defended just 12 seconds later for a 4-1 lead.
Wayne Cowden brought South Africa to life with a man-up goal at 6:28 of the second quarter. US-based South African Ryan Bell was excluded in a nasty incident where he appeared to receive a hit to the face and Lanson deflected in from the right post position at 5:31 for a 5-2 lead. Bell gained some consolation with a power shot from top right at 4:23 on extra to narrow the score to 5-3. At 3:44, John Soler was excluded swimming back and South Africa called a time-out. No goal came. Cowden sent in a penalty shot at 2:42 but Valletta caught the defence unawares with a nine-metre shot at 2:15 to go 6-4 up. A long-range shot by Jean Oosthuizen on the hooter nearly went in on the rebound from Maltese goalkeeper Joseph Caruana Ding.
South Africa blows two opportunities on extra at the start of the third, the second hitting the crossbar. De Bono scores his second from out top on extra at 4:40 after Bell was sent for his second major foul. Alistair Stewart converts on extra as Valletta is excluded to trail 7-5 at 4:13. A certain goal is wasted when Shaun Bond's poor pass to an open Stewart is intercepted. Lanzon struck at 1:10 after receiving a pass from his right into centre forward where he backhanded the goal to stretch the lead to 8-5. Valletta appeared to be about to shoot in the dying seconds but Soler shifted from centre forward to the far post and the long pass from halfway found him and he scored on the stroke of the quarter -- 9-5.
John Paris converted on extra from top right at 6:00 at the start of the fourth to go 10-5 up. Ryan Bell collects his third major when he sends the ball out of the pool in dead time. Mike Bond gains his third and Pisani steers the ball in from a De Bono pass at 4:38. Paul Privitera gets the extra-man goal at 3:52 for a 12-5 margin. Oosthuizen scored for South Africa on counter at 3:05, eight minutes after its last goal. Oosthuizen nearly had another soon after but Caruana Ding blocked. However, Stewart nailed the goal seconds later at 2:30 and bring up a more respectable 12-7. Malta has a time-out at 2:13 but the shot is late and stopped by Tselentis. Cowden crosses to Simon Daley at 1:27 to make the score 12-8. Soler goes for the game and Oosthuizen wastes no time scoring at 0:50 -- South Africa's fourth consecutive goal. There it virtually ended with the foul count 16-13, slightly favouring South Africa.

AUSTRALIA - 9 Y.Higgins (2), J.Flaskas (2), B.Brooks (1), J.Fox (1),EEEm E.Norwood (1), R.Rippon (1), M.Rippon (1)

CANADA - 6 S.Gardiner (2), J.Begin (2), M.Illing (1), W.Horn-Miller (1)

Referees: Tad Detko (ENG). Peter Balzan (MLT)

Cora Campbell's centre forward shot is saved by Australian goalie Emma Knox to open the game but the first goal doesn't come until 1:10 when Susan Gardiner scores off the backhand at the end of possession time and wide out. Sandra Lize gives up a penalty foul at 0:54 and Aussie skipper Yvette Higgins converts to be 1-1. Campbell loses the ball on counter and Australia counters back with Julia Flaskas found free on deep right-hand catch. She lobbed Canadian goalkeeper Rachel Riddell, who tipped it, but into the goal at 5:22. Marianne Illing replied on extra at 4:44 after Belinda Brooks was ejected. Brooks was in the
next goal, failing to block the shot of Joanne Begin from 10 metres at 3:53, giving Canada a 3-2 lead. On the next attack, Flaskas lobbed Riddell again at 3:25 to level the game. Begin got the better of Brooks again, this time in the two metres, scoring a backhand at 3:04. Brooks scores on the counter at 1:06 from top left. Gardiner scores off Brooks with a backhand at 0:51.
Australia blew an extra chance, as did Canada's Campbell before the hooter. Canada led 5-4 at the changeover. Kate Gynther wins her third swim for the ball for Australia. Jo Fox levelled the game at 5-5 on a counter exclusion move at 4:53. Elise Norwood took Australia back into the lead at 3:10 with a long shot from nine metres which slithered across the line. Canadian coach Pat Oaten calls a time-out at 2:51 but the extra-player shot never had a chance. Higgins has two shots stopped from the two-metre line when solidly guarded. A last-gasp Canadian shot slips wide.
Waneek Horn-Miller grabbed the first goal of the fourth period, snapping up a rebound two metres from goal and backhanding in at 5:57. Rebecca Rippon received the ball from sister Melissa and lobbed Riddell for a 7-6 lead at 3:02. Gardiner is excluded at 1:42 and Olympic champion coach Istvan Gorgenyi calls time-out. The ball moves quickly to Higgins who shoots on left-hand catch from five metres at 1:30 to take an unassailable 8-6 lead. Australia steals the ball soon after and sends a counter up field with Melissa Rippon lobbing Riddell at 1:06. Australia steals the ball again but Canada wins it back. Horn Miller's shot goes over the top, giving world number five Australia a 9-6 victory over world number three Canada.

SINGAPORE - 8 A.Lee (2), T.Tan (2), N.Tan (1), O.Tan (1), M.Ng (1), S.Meng Lee (1)

WALES - 5 D.Edwards (3), C.Fenner (1), A.Holt (1)

Referees: Steve Knights (NZL), Chris Freebury (ENG)

Alvin Lee opened the scoring for Singapore with a lob over Welsh goalkeeper Andy Knight at 6:03. David Edwards replied at 4:48 from outside. Nicholas Tan sent Singapore ahead with a lob at 2:39 but Edwards was back in the thick of it at 1:03 with an excellent shot, which proved to be the quarter-time score.
Ceri Fenner scored against the run of play as Singapore started to counter at 6:31 of the second quarter. Alvin Lee brought the game back to even on extra at 5:08, shooting from the top left. Edwards was excluded at 4:03 and Singapore took the time-out. The ball went to Sai Meng Lee but he dropped it. However, he regained it two passes later and made certain of the goal at 3:47. Terence Tan converted on extra from top right at 2:06 when it was thought he was going to pass, to give Singapore a 5-3 lead. Oliver Tan made it 6-3 on extra at 0:05 after a period in which the Singaporeans were hesitant and not forcing themselves inside.
Terence Tan drove in and gained an exclusion and then proceeded to score on extra from the top at 6:20. Marcus Ng scored on counter-attack when he broke, receiving the ball from goalkeeper Ker Wei Ng and bypassing Knight to go 8-3 in front. Some smart work by Chock Lau in centre forward earned a kick-out but the return pass to him went astray as the agility and speed of the Asians was starting to tell on the game. Andy Holt stopped the Singaporean charge when he was pressured by goalkeeper Ker Wei Ng at the seven-metre mark near the side of the pool. Holt scores off the free throw at 2:12.
Wales wins the swim and calls time-out but loses the ball on the second pass. Wales fails to shoot with an open goal nearing the five-minute mark and only do so when the cage is guarded. To add insult to injury, the referees do not notice that the shot is tipped over by a defender. Ker Wei Ng repels several Welsh shots as the Welsh get a second wind. Edwards scores his third goal from centre forward at 1:48 to narrow the margin to 8-5.