22 July 2023
The Maritzburg College 1st XV delivered a sensational performance on Saturday to defeat Affies for the first time in Pretoria, running away to a 50-31 victory to delight their fellow students and the many Old Boys who turned up to show their support.
Throughout the day, Affies had maintained an edge over their College counterparts in matches leading up to the showdown of the 1st teams, and matters looked ominous when the home side went over for a converted try by winger Stephan Brits within the first two minutes.
Took the game to their opponents
Sasha Kadira and his team were undaunted, however. They took it in their stride and took the game to their opponents. Two deep forays into Affies’ territory, then, produced two penalties, both slotted by flyhalf Luc du Toit, who had a very good day with the boot, both off of the kicking tee and from a tactical standpoint.
College coach Tim Orchard, who was unsurprisingly a satisfied man after an excellent win, told Pinnacle Schools he was pleased with the performances of Du Toit and scrumhalf Rhett Quinn.
“I think they managed the game very well,” Orchard said. “The kicking out of hand was good and we put them under pressure. And we played into the wind in the first half.”
Affies responded with a second try from a fine counter-attack, with Brits again going over, this time in the right-hand corner. Another successful conversion put the home side 14-6 in the clear.
Then, College took charge. Their scrum dominated the set pieces, forcing Affies onto the back foot, and the College lineout, at times inconsistent during the season, was a sure source of quality ball, often providing a solid platform from which to attack.
Orchard, who served as forwards coach for the Sharks’ Craven Week team, said of the scrums: “In our assessment of them, we noticed that they might be a bit weak there, and we looked to put pressure on them at scrum time.” The red, black and white did, and then some.
The lineouts, too, were particularly pleasing for Orchard. “We focussed a lot on that in the week and it definitely paid off,” he said.
First College try
A good drive off of a lineout set College up for their first try, scored by SA Schools flyer Luyanda Kunene, who outstripped the defence to gather up a grubber and crash over in the 13th minute. Du Toit’s accurate boot brought the boys from Pietermaritzburg to within a single point at 13-14.
Good lineout ball and another impressive rolling maul then resulted in Aiden Botha breaking away. Spinning off of the maul on the 22, he charged towards the try-line, but was stopped a metre shy of the whitewash. A quickly recycled ball, though, resulted in Jake Jansen powering his way over and College were in the lead. With the extras from the boot of Du Toit, they were 20-14 in front.
Affies responded by forcing their way right up to the Maritzburg College try-line, but staunch defence forced a turnover of possession.
In the 27th minute, Luc du Toit was on target from the tee once more, resulting in College taking a 23-14 lead into the break.
Affies breakout
Orchard’s side came oh so close to extending their advantage within two minutes of the restart, but the ball was lost as the pack powered over the try-line. They were made to pay as Affies struck with a sucker punch from the scrum that followed five metres from their line.
After a break by their inside centre, the Pretoria school moved the ball wide to the left. The speedy Luyanda Kunene managed to drag the player to ground, but the ball was recycled quickly, and the Affies’ fullback was able to go over for five points, dragging a tackler with him over the line.
Affies were just four points behind College at 19-23 but, as they did throughout the contest, the red, black and white found an answer.
Flyhalf Luc du Toit read the situation well when College had a scrum in a central position on the Affies’ 22, moving very wide to the left of the packs. Then, after receiving a pass from scrumhalf Rhett Quinn, he dummied to his left and cut back inside where a huge gap had opened up because of his wide positioning. Du Toit was through under the uprights and his conversion made it 30-19.
In the 52nd minute, the flyhalf increased the advantage to 14 points – two converted tries – with another penalty.
Back-and-forth
Affies’ scrumhalf Antonie Fourie, then, took a page out of Du Toit’s book, selling a fine dummy to break through the Maritzburg College defence on the halfway line. Kunene, on the cover defence, stopped him five metres from the College try-line and the visitors then forced a turnover by holding up the hosts within sight of the whitewash.
The assistant referee, however, consulted with the referee and Affies were awarded a penalty. A well-executed set piece put the Wit Bulle over to the left of the posts and the successful conversion made it Maritzburg College 33-26 Affies.
The home side immediately went onto the attack again, but when the ball was spilled Langelihle Makhathini scooped it up and raced away from his chasers to score from 60 metres out. With Du Toit continuing his fine day with the boot, College looked comfortable once more at 40-26 in front.
Kick and chase rewarded
Then, an excellent kick to the corner by Du Toit and a fantastic chase by Luyanda Kunene forced Affies to carry the ball over their try-line and concede a five-metre scrum. Twice College attacked the try-line, with 8th-man Sasha Kadira tackled only centimetres shy, but on their third go at the line Elbie Mouton stepped inside off of his left foot and was over beneath the posts.
The simple conversion put College 47-26 ahead with less than five minutes to play.
Full credit to Affies, they managed a try in response. An attack down the left flank, followed by a well-judged grubber over the Maritzburg try-line, resulted in Migael de Lange falling on the ball for five points.
Final say
Still, as had happened all day, College had a telling response. They surged onto attack, pinned Affies deep in their 22 and then forced a penalty. This enabled them to run down the clock and to tack on three points just before the final whistle.
It ended 50-31 to the red, black and white, who were good value for an extremely impressive victory.
College had begun the game on the back foot, conceding an early try, but they kept taking the game to Affies. “Big self-belief,” coach Tim Orchard said.
“We worked on our gameplan for Affies at the end of last term. We were well prepared. The boys really knew their roles and executed them well.”
It was a huge win for the Maritzburg College community, Orchard said. He described feedback from the Old Boys as “brilliant”, which would be a good word, too, to describe the performance of his charges.
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