Australia’s water polo men are turning from long-shots into genuine contenders for an Olympic medal after earning their second-straight shock triumph at the Paris Aquatics Centre.
Hot on the heels of their victory over two-time defending champions Serbia last time out, the Sharks silenced a noisy home crowd on Thursday by edging the hosts 9-8 in a thrilling triumph.
The French are the world’s No.4 side, but the Australians, seven places behind them, found strength from feeling somewhat friendless amid a frenzied atmosphere.
“It was always going to be a big game, and that was special. It was crazy, but a lot of us thrived off it,” smiled Chaz Poot, whose superb strike with 24 seconds left effectively sealed the win.
“We wanted to embrace the atmosphere as we’re not used to playing big games like this in Australia. It was nice to have that crowd.”
The Sharks were in the driving seat for most of the match before prevailing with an outstanding hat-trick from Milos Maksimovic and goals from Angus Lambie, Matt Byrnes, Blake Edwards, Jacob Mercep, Luke Pavillard and Poot.
Still, though, for the second game running, it was the heroics of goalkeeper Nic Porter that really won the day for Tim Hamill’s ever improving side, who have moved to second in their group with the top four sides all due to qualify for the quarter-finals.
In the fourth quarter with the game in the balance, the star of the 8-3 win over Serbia again produced a handful of wonderful saves to keep the French from equalising at 8-8.
His stand-out moment was an unfathomable instinct save to keep out a thunderous penalty from Thomas Vernoux with his forearm.
Roaring with delight after that save and another moments later, Porter then jumped up again as he watched his teammate Poot seal the deal at the other end with a terrific shot.
There was still time for the French to make in 9-8 with an Ugo Crousillat goal six seconds from time, but though both he and Emil Bjorch scored hat-tricks, it was not enough for the dejected home side.
It was a big afternoon, too, for Maksimovic, the former Serbian world championship medallist who enjoyed his best international since making his debut for Australia last year, scoring a goal in each of the final three periods.
He knew who the real hero was, though. “Our goalkeeper was amazing,” smiled Maksimovic.
