29 April 2024
HOCKEY
Clifton‘s young 1st XI has played some exciting hockey in 2024 but, as with all young sides, they are a work in progress, and much of their focus in training has been on finishing. On Saturday, at the Riverside Sports Club, they recorded the only finish of the game that counted to beat Northwood 1-0.
It was a back-and-forth contest, with the Knights, as always, giving it their all from the first whistle to the last. Twice they had the ball in the back of the net, but both efforts were disallowed.
There was no doubt about Jared Pearson‘s goal, however. It was a fitting reward for the Clifton captain, who turned in a strong performance.
There’s something very exciting about the manner in which coach Calvin Price’s charges approach the game, playing it with a mixture of quick passing and skilful, hard running, always, though, with an eye on producing a defence-splitting ball.
Northwood is talented. They demonstrated as much when they came within seconds of beating DHS, but one gets the feeling they’re seeking a spark, and once it is struck and they start finishing better, they’re going to be a problem for any opposition.
Overall, Northwood hockey teams had a good day. The open age group games were shared two each, but Northwood produced a clean sheet in the u16 and u14 matches.
RESULTS
1st: Clifton 1-0 Northwood
2nd: Clifton 0-3 Northwood
3rd: Clifton 3-2 Northwood
4th: Clifton 0-5 Northwood
16A: Clifton 0-4 Northwood
16B: Clifton 1-3 Northwood
16C: Clifton 0-9 Northwood
16D: Clifton 0-6 Northwood
14A: Clifton 0-3 Northwood
14B: Clifton 0-7 Northwood
14C: Clifton 0-10 Northwood
14D: Clifton 0-10 Northwood
RUGBY
For about half-an-hour of their match at the Sharks High Schools Rugby Day, Clifton was in the game and looking comfortable against the Knights. Maybe they were too comfortable because, just before half-time, with Clifton 6-5 ahead, an overly ambitious long pass to set up a counterattack was intercepted and turned into a try, and with that the momentum swung Northwood’s way.
They quickly added another try and went into the break 19-6 to the good.
Knights’ coach Jacques Deen, somewhat euphemistically, said he had to make his team realise what they are capable of doing, at half-time. Whatever he said, it did the trick. In the second half, they were a different beast, running up a further 42 points without reply.
It was a lacklustre start to the game from Northwood, but they finished it rampantly. Clifton, it seemed, let their concentration slip and from that point on, they couldn’t regain it as the Knights upped the tempo.
Northwood cleaned up in the open, u16 and u15 age groups, but Clifton’s exciting u14A team added another victory to their impressive list of results, and the Northwood claimed the u14B win by just two points.
RESULTS
1st: Clifton 6-61 Northwood
2nd: Clifton 0-22 Northwood
3rd: Clifton 0-36 Northwood
16A: Clifton 0-50 Northwood
16B: Clifton 5-25 Northwood 16D
15A: Clifton 5-33 Northwood
15B: Clifton 12-26 Northwood 15D
14A: Clifton 12-5 Northwood
14B: Clifton 19-21 Northwood
Leave a Reply