20 May 2023
Clifton College didn’t take a step back against Glenwood on Dixon’s on Saturday, but a crucial early score in the second half put the Green Machine on the way to what was ultimately a convincing 38-10 victory.
The first half was nowhere near as comfortable for the home side, who twice went over for tries, only for Clifton to doggedly fight back and twice force their way over through their pack.
Ideal playing conditions
After heavy rain and a cold Friday, the lush grass of Dixon’s, a soft surface underfoot, and a sunny Durban day, made for ideal rugby-playing conditions.
In the first half, Glenwood looked a little lethargic, perhaps because of a very heavy schedule, which has included the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival, the Noord-Suid Festival, traditional KZN clashes, and, most recently, the hard-hitting Craven Week trials.
Green Machine skipper, Lithemba Mfupi, admitted to Pinnacle Schools after the match that his team’s bodies were a bit tired, but he was pleased that his side was able to pull off the win.
Opening try
Mfupi, along with lock and Head Boy Liam Terblanche and fullback Jaco Williams (who ran out at flyhalf on Saturday), was named in the Craven Week side, and he showed his leadership by putting in a crucial run, which helped the home side get onto the scoreboard first in the eighth minute.
Mfupi was stopped just shy of the try-line, but he held his hands above the tackle before off-loading to MJ Schoeman, who went over on the right.
In response, Clifton soon worked their way into Glenwood’s half where they laid siege to the Green Machine’s try-line in the left-hand corner. With remarkable patience and solid ball retention, they kept driving towards the whitewash for phase after phase. Eventually, they made the metre they required, and Nathan Shotland went over to level the scores in the 12th minute.
Glenwood were back in front seven minutes later, though, after the speedy Bakhosibakhe Gamede sliced clean through the Clifton midfield and raced clear to dot down beneath the posts. Tyrique Hardnick made the easy conversion to put the hosts 12-5 clear.
Answering, it was again slow poison from Clifton, who forced their way up to the Glenwood try-line from a lineout, and then kept bashing away until they found a way over through captain Adam Zoio, who broke off of the side of the maul and dived over for the five-pointer.
The conversion was missed, but there were just two points in it at half-time. The visitors looked buoyed. Glenwood were not on their A game. Animated, Green Machine coach Derek Heiberg urged his players to up their performance in the second half.
Second half
Clifton kicked off to start the second stanza and a loose return kick from Jaco Williams was turned into a counter-attack by the team in white. The visitors took the ball wide to the left and up to the Glenwood 10m line. But as a pass was attempted to continue the offensive, a hard Glenwood hit jarred the ball loose.
The ball was kicked ahead and, when the Clifton cover defence failed to deal with its bounce, Glenwood recovered. One pass inside later, Zuki Tom was in the clear. He went over under the posts for a five-pointer, and Hardnick added two more to stretch Glenwood’s advantage to 19-10.
That turnover was a key moment in the match, Green Machine captain Mfupi said: “It was very important. It shifted momentum in a huge way. That’s what allowed us to open them up.”
A contest that had been up in the air suddenly leaned towards Glenwood. They looked reinvigorated. Unfortunately, though, the try-scorer, Tom, had injured himself in the act of scoring and had to be replaced.
Still, Clifton took the game to Glenwood, but they, too, were hamstrung by injury, with loosehead prop Lungani Ngcobo leaving the field just six minutes into the half. Barely three minutes later, left wing Nkanyiso Ntshangase joined him on the sidelines. He was racing up the right touchline when he suddenly clutched at his right hamstring and fell to the ground.
Glenwood, then, pinned Clifton deep into their own half, but the visiting team defended stubbornly until the 55th minute when Liam Terblanche bashed his way over for a try out on the left. This time the conversion attempt was off target, but the Green Machine were two converted tries in the clear at 24-10.
Clifton had a chance to reduce the deficit from a penalty, but the kick at goal, from 27 metres out, just right of the posts, was wide.
Within three minutes, they found themselves even further behind as Keegan Goosen spotted a gap at a ruck, picked up, and sprinted over. Hardnick slotted the conversion to make it 31-10 to Glenwood. Clifton’s challenge appeared to be spent.
Soon, Glenwood came close to adding another try with a fine counter-attack, led by left-wing Gamede. It looked as if he had gone over in the left-hand corner, but he had stepped onto the touchline midway into the Clifton 22.
Final say
It was all the Green Machine, though, as the time ran down, and they had the final say when Chijundu Okanta stood up a Clifton defender with a shimmy before slicing through to score behind the posts. Another Hardnick conversion took the score up to 38-10.
After the final whistle, Glenwood’s captain Lithemba Mfupi gave props to the visitors: “I have to give them credit. They are a good team.”
It had been very tight in the first half, but the Green Machine owned the second half by a 26-0 margin. “We came back and showed a lot of character,” Mfupi said. “We kept the ball better. We knew that they would eventually get a bit tired. Then, we started opening them up.”
Rocky-steady set piece
A big contributing factor to the Glenwood win was a rock-steady set piece, both in the scrums and the lineouts. Mfupi said that was satisfying. “We were working on our set pieces for the whole week,” he reckoned, explaining that it was also in preparation for the visit of Hilton College next weekend, who should provide the Durban school with a very stiff examination.
On Saturday, at least, they came away with a clearcut win, but they’ll need a much better first half, with improved intensity, if they plan on lowering the black and white of Hilton in their next outing on 27 May.
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