San Gijlan were crowned champions of the BOV Waterpolo Championship 2022 after beating Sliema 16-12 in the second match of the finals series to win the Play-Off series 2-0. It was an immaculate display of waterpolo that included an almost perfect tactical plan, total application and accuracy.
Beto Fernandez’s side required to win to draw the series. However, it was San Giljan’s 12th championship win and surely, they never thought that they would win it so easily to make it a season to remember after winning their second double in three seasons.
Two-time Player of the Year Ben Plumpton was again in an irresistible vein yesterday as his six-goal bonanza and a spurt of goals in the third session, resulting from superb collective play had San Giljan pull the trigger against Sliema who until midway through the match were in contention to force a decider.
Sliema messed up their first man-up situation as San Giljan went three goals up – conversions from Nikolai Zammit from a five-metre throw, Darren Zammit and Ben Plumpton, the latter surprising Sliema goalkeeper Nicky Grixti with an angled shot. Their zone was invariably getting the Blues into all sorts of problems.