10 June 2023
Overall, Hilton College enjoyed the better of the results against Kearsney College in Botha’s Hill on Saturday, 10 June, but the hosts scored a memorable win in the 1st XI hockey match against a Hilton team that was unbeaten in KZN…until Saturday.
Hilton, meanwhile, continued on their winning ways on the rugby field, with their 1st XV adding another W to their impressive season in a harder-than-it appears victory. But Kearsney claimed some good wins of their own.
Rugby
(Video broadcast cut short early)
1st XV report
In the battle of the two 1st XVs, Hilton College owned the first half, but Kearsney came out with some fire in their belly in the second half to force the visitors back onto their heels. It took a while for them to deal with the ferocity of the Kearsney response but, once they had withstood that fierce fire, they came back into the game and, eventually, closed it out strongly.
Early in the match, Hilton dished up what those who have seen them in action expect: a high-pressure game, played deep inside the opposition’s half, thanks to the excellent kicking game of their flyhalf and captain, Chris Horak.
Well-disciplined and direct
Then, Hilton’s pack, well-disciplined and direct, kept hitting it up, forcing Kearsney to commit defenders to the rucks and mauls. They were rewarded with an early try and some successful penalties landed by Horak. Soon, they had opened up a 16-0 lead.
Kearsney’s attempts to dictate play hadn’t come off. “We had a set plan in the first half. We wanted to take a lot of quick taps and give Hilton a picture they hadn’t seen yet. But we weren’t rewarded when we caught them not being back 10 metres,” Kearsney coach Neil van Heerden said.
Kearsney, however, found a way back into the contest when a stunning long-range counter almost put them in at the left-hand corner. They were stopped just short, but that attack ultimately led to a converted try for the one-stripes. It was just what the game needed.
After halftime, the home team raised their intensity level markedly, and Hilton were hard-pressed to keep them out. “They came out with so much energy. In the beginning, we couldn’t handle it,” Hilton skipper Chris Horak told Pinnacle Schools afterwards. “But the boys kept it together and that took us over the line at the end.”
Kearsney coach Van Heerden explained: “We threw caution to the wind in the second half, and we played a more attacking game, moving our nine to 10, and a new scrumhalf came off of the bench, like we had been playing up until our DHS game. We told the boys to have a go and to play with reckless abandon and give it their all.”
Kearsney were again rewarded with a try, but they had their conversion attempt charged done. Hilton, at last, managed to find some momentum and they finished strongly to claim a 16-point victory that was far from as routine as the scoreboard might suggest.
It was a case, as it so often is with Hilton, that Kearsney knew what was coming at them but, like so many others, they couldn’t stop the boys in white and black.
“We work hard at it”
“We work hard at it,” Horak said of his team’s pressure-based, rugged gameplan. “We have a brilliant coach in Brad McLeod-Henderson. He drills it into us in pre-season and during the season. By the time we play the game on Saturday, we know what our roles are. That helps us.”
Van Heerden was magnanimous when discussing the visitors’ approach: “Credit to Hilton. It’s a very simple gameplan. You know exactly what’s coming, but it doesn’t make it any easier to stop. It’s brutally efficient. All respect to them, they were the better team on the day.
With the win, Hilton College remains unbeaten in KZN in 2023, although their great rivals, Michaelhouse, who have also enjoyed a fine season, will have another shot at them this coming weekend.
Rewarding
Reflecting on his side’s year so far, Horak said: “It’s been very rewarding. We had a much tougher preseason this year than last. But it’s really good to see a group that was split in the beginning come together. We’ve had some very special results. It’s great to be a part of this team.”
“I can’t describe in words how it feels,” he said, holding a hand over his heart.
Results
1st: Kearsney College 12-28 Hilton College
2nd: Kearsney College 15-22 Hilton College
3rd: Kearsney College 12-32 Hilton College
4th: Kearsney College 12-41 Hilton College
5th: Kearsney College 17-21 Hilton College
6th: Kearsney College 50-0 Hilton College
16A: Kearsney College 17-21 Hilton College
16B: Kearsney College 18-17 Hilton College
16C: Kearsney College 12-26 Hilton College
15A: Kearsney College 17-14 Hilton College
15B: Kearsney College 12-29 Hilton College
15C: Kearsney College 17-34 Hilton College
14A: Kearsney College 17-10 Hilton College
14B: Kearsney College 53-5 Hilton College
14C: Kearsney College 51-0 Hilton College
Hockey
1st XI report
Hilton took an unbeaten record in KwaZulu-Natal into their 1st XI hockey match against Kearsney on the Mason Astro. The hosts, much improved over the second half of the season, were up for the challenge.
“We were well prepared for them. Our coach knew exactly what to expect, as he does every single game. We were really hungry,” reckoned Asanda Nyawose.
Kearsney, very effectively, clogged the channels through the centre of the field, forcing Hilton out wide, and they defended well to keep the visitors at bay. They also did a fine job of slowing Hilton’s ball speed, which didn’t move much beyond third gear throughout the game.
A moment of magic
It took a moment of magic to decide the contest and it came from Nyawose, who finished off a length of the field attack with a stunning reverse stick shot. The angle looked way too tight, but the big striker was committed.
“As I was about to shoot, I could hear players saying ‘don’t shoot, don’t shoot’. It was too late. I was already in the motion of shooting, and I just went for it,” he told Pinnacle Schools.
“As I scored, I couldn’t believe that I had done it. I looked up and saw the ball moving around. I thought nothing happened.” Then, though, he realised that he had put his team ahead. A wide grin spread across his face as he was swamped by his team-mates.
“I was at centre-back, and I was just getting to the halfway line. I saw him shoot and I thought it was a bit ambitious,” Dylan Wiggett said. “Then, I saw the side-netting go. I thought he had hit the side netting. Then the ball dropped into the goals. I was so excited.”
A spectacular stop
While Nyawose provided the match-winner, it was Wiggett who saved the match for Kearsney. With little time remaining, he redirected a goal-bound penalty corner away from the top of the goal to keep his team ahead. It was a spectacular stop.
For Nyawose and Wiggett and a number of matric boys, it was their last match for Kearsney. They had begun their hockey career at the school with a 1-3 loss to Hilton on the Mason Astro at under-14 level, but they had reversed that result against many of the same players in their final 1st XI game.
“There was no better way to go out than with a win against such a good school,” Wiggett said.
“We’ve been unbeaten this year at home, so it meant a lot to keep that streak going. We’ve lost only once at home in the last eight years!”
Last words, to the goal-scorer, Asanda Nyawose: “What a way to end it! We sat in the changeroom, trying to think about what had happened. We couldn’t believe it.”
Results
1st: Kearsney College 1-0 Hilton College
2nd: Kearsney College 1-3 Hilton College
3rd: Kearsney College 0-4 Hilton College
4th: Kearsney College 1-2 Hilton College
16A: Kearsney College 0-1 Hilton College
16B: Kearsney College 0-1 Hilton College
16C: Kearsney College 0-1 Hilton College
16D: Kearsney College 1-2 Hilton College
16E: Kearsney College 0-2 Hilton College
14A: Kearsney College 1-1 Hilton College
14C: Kearsney College 5-0 Hilton College
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