7 April 2024
Two teams loaded with talent in their backlines were limited by wet and muddy conditions in Durban, when Westville Boys’ High visited Van Heerden’s Field for a showdown with high-flying Durban High School (DHS).
Both sides had impressed at the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival, where Westville upset Monument, and where DHS surrendered only a single try in their three matches. And both had demonstrated their power up front there, which is where most of the action, out of necessity, took place on Saturday.
Two sturdy packs and two stubborn defences went at it, and they impressed with the commitment they showed to fight fire with fire. It was a hard slog for both offences on the day.
The visitors were first on the scoreboard very early in the game when a spilled kick off resulted in a DHS player being trapped offsides and Westville flyhalf Unathi Mlotshwa stepped up to knock over a penalty from about 30 metres out.
DHS had kept three clean sheets in five matches this season already, but that record would not be improved upon.
It didn’t take long for the Horseflies to reply, however. After they hit up the ball through a number of phases, Westville was pinged for a high tackle and flyhalf Aka Boqwana‘s trusty right boot levelled matters for the hosts.
The falling rain made the underfoot conditions and the ball slippery, and both teams saw promising attacks ended by spilled catches.
After 18 minutes, a curious decision to fly-hack a high-up-and-under from DHS by Westville fullback Jade-Will Koopman led to the Griffin conceding another penalty when Michael Satade, 15 metres up the field, along with many other Westville team-mates, played the ball and was blown up for being offsides.
Boqwana, who has been one of the deadliest kickers in the early part of the season, made full use of the opportunity to give the hosts the lead for the first time in the match. It lasted only four minutes.
When DHS prevented the quick release of the ball after a player had gone to ground, they found themselves facing another penalty and Mlotshwa knocked it over from a similar position to his first, maybe a touch further out, to make it 6-6.
Soon, though, DHS had the lead again, and they wouldn’t relinquish it. Boqwana landed his third penalty, which the Horseflies had won by fiercely contesting the ball at a ruck. It wasn’t a tough kick, on the 22m line and 10m to the left of the uprights.
They surged back onto the attack and laid siege to the Westville tryline, bashing away, phase after phase, but the Griffin’s hard-hitting defence repelled them time and again. DHS took it through 14 phases, but they couldn’t get over the line from close range. Westville, however, gave away a penalty.
Then, from a scrum, it took only two phases for School to cross the tryline. Flyhalf Boqwana played Hlumelo Madikane, just outside of him, into some space and he raced through a gap into the visitors’ defensive line to add five to the DHS tally.
Boqwana’s boot delivered again, and coach Peter Engeldow‘s charges were 10 points up at 16-6.
In the second half, Westville put together a series of strong drives by their forwards, which made big dents in the DHS defensive line, and it eventually brought them a penalty. Mlotshwa made no mistake from the right of the posts, inside the 22, and it was 16-9.
Then, DHS was almost undone by the conditions when Allston Cedras spilled a pass with School on the counterattack. The slippery ball popped up and landed in the hands of Westville right wing Evan Moolman, eight metres inside the Griffin’s half. He pinned his ears back and hared off down the field.
With the DHS cover defence closing in on him, Moolman cut inside but then floated a pass back outside to Michael Satade. DHS, though, had scrambled back well and they closed down the big centre. A few phases later, Westville was penalised for going into a ruck from the side and the danger was ended.
DHS’s sure tackling brought them further points, the last points of the match, in fact, when a superb tackle around the ankles by scrumhalf Marcwin Nero stopped a Westville attack and forced the ball carrier to hold onto the ball inside the visitors’ 22. Flanker Bradley le Grange was first over the ball to do the damage.
Boqwana then made Westville pay and made it a two-score game by slotting his fourth penalty.
In the challenging conditions, there were no further points and DHS, unbeaten on Van Heerden’s in 2023, began 2024 with another “W” on their home ground.
Points’ scorers
DHS 19 (16) – Try: Hlumelo Madikane. Conversion: Aka Boqwana. Penalties: Aka Boqwana (4).
Westville 9 (6) – Penalties: Unathi Mlotshwa (3).
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