28 April 2024
(Report by Marlowe Bloem)
On Saturday, Maritzburg College and Westville Boys’ High squared off at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in a mid-afternoon match at the Sharks High Schools Rugby Day.
Maritzburg headed into the contest off the back of a narrow three-point loss at home to DHS, while Westville had won by three last time out against Glenwood High School.
Both teams got their hands on the ball in the early going, but College capitalised on their possession in the fifth minute. After driving up into the Glenwood 22 and moving the ball through a number of phases, College scrumhalf Rayke Maartens sent out a skip pass from a ruck. The ball hit the ground, but it popped up invitingly for fullback Luyanda Kunene, who caught in it a gap and waltzed through to score just to the right of the poles. Flyhalf James Slevin slotted the conversion.
Maritzburg pounced again shortly after that. Maartens took the right option when he played the blindside from a ruck on Westville’s 22m line. There, the Red, Black and White had an overlap, which allowed outside centre Swelithle Mbatha to dot down in the left corner unchallenged. The tough conversion was missed.
College extended their lead to 15-0 in the 16th minute, however, when Slevin knocked over a penalty from 20 metres out.
It was an energetic and physical performance from the Maritzburg forwards, who were dominant at the breakdown, thus controlling possession.
Just before the half-hour mark, College was over for another try, once more after a good build-up, which sucked in the Griffin’s defenders. That created space out wide and a dummy by flyhalf Slevin put him over the line. He also converted his own try to put the Pietermaritzburg school 22 points in the clear.
Just before the halftime whistle blew, Westville struck back from a well-executed backline move. From a scrum inside the Maritzburg 22, scrumhalf Ryan Pistor fed flyhalf Unathi Mlotshwa. He skipped the centres, who had made decoy runs, and found fullback Zekhethelo Siyaya ranging up into the backline. Siyaya hastily moved the ball on to the left-wing Jadrian Afrikaner, who finished in the corner.
At half-time, it was 22-5 in favour of Maritzburg College.
After the game resumed, the first 15 minutes of the second half were scrappy with both sides untidy at set piece time.
Westville, though, managed to work their way into the College 22. However, just when they looked dangerous, Maritzburg’s Swelihle Mbatha swooped in to intercept and sprint 80 metres for a try under the posts. Slevin added the extras.
Four minutes later, Maritzburg pounced again. This time their five points came from a driving maul, which began with a lineout inside the Westville 22. College rolled it up to within five metres of the try line and blindside flank Naz Isaacs then charged over from there. Another Slevin conversion extended Rambo Kubheka and company’s advantage to 36-5.
Westville kept battling away and were rewarded with a 65th minute try, with Afrikaner going over again. After receiving the ball out wide on the Maritzburg 22, he cut in and his dancing feet found space among the Maritzburg defenders. Five metres from the line, he was tackled, but his momentum carried him over. The conversion was missed.
The last say in the game belonged to College, however, with their powerful midfielder, Nkululeki Sithole, smashing through a gap between his opposing centres before carrying a tackler over with him in the corner.
Slevin was unable to add two more from a difficult angle, but Maritzburg College had impressed with an unexpectedly comfortable 41-10 win.
Both schools head out of the province for their next matches, with College off to Kimberley for the Absa Wildeklawer Tournament where they face the toughest possible schedule, taking on Grey College, followed by Paul Roos. Westville will be in action at the Grey High Rugby Festival, in Gqeberha, where they take on Durbanville and Dale College. Both sets of matches take place on 2 May and 4 May.
In the other matches on the weekend, Westville’s 2nd XV won against College, but the boys from the KZN capital controlled the remainder of the open age group matches.
The u16 results went their way, too, but Westville snatched a one-point win in the u15A game. The rest of the u15 games went College’s way. Westville, though, ran out comfortable winners of the u14A contest and edged that age group by three wins to two.
RESULTS
1st: Westville 10-41 Maritzburg College
2nd: Westville 22-10 Maritzburg College
3rd: Westville 10-15 Maritzburg College
4th: Westville 3-22 Maritzburg College
5th: Westville 0-56 Maritzburg College
6th: Westville 0-29 Maritzburg College
7th: Westville 3-55 Maritzburg College
8th: Maritzburg College 33-12 Alex 1st
9th: Maritzburg College 0-34 KZN Development
10th: Maritzburg College 14-12 KZN Development
16A: Westville 7-42 Maritzburg College
16B: Westville 7-26 Maritzburg College
16C: Westville 7-31 Maritzburg College
16D: Westville 14-15 Maritzburg College
16E: Maritzburg College 26-33 Alex 16A
16F: Maritzburg College 12-62 KZN Development
15A: Westville 22-21 Maritzburg College
15B: Westville 12-25 Maritzburg College
15C: Westville 7-54 Maritzburg College
15D: Westville 5-40 Maritzburg College
15E: Westville 0-50 Maritzburg College
15F: Maritzburg College 10-38 Ashton
14A: Westville 23-7 Maritzburg College
14B: Westville 21-7 Maritzburg College
14C: Westville 14-12 Maritzburg College
14D: Westville 7-12 Maritzburg College
14E: Westville 0-10 Maritzburg College
HOCKEY
The Westville and Maritzburg College 1st teams shared the honours in a six-goal thriller in Westville on Saturday.
Meanwhile, College’s 2nd side continued a very successful season, claiming a hard-fought 1-0 win.
The competition was very even in the two older age groups. In the open age group matches, there were two draws and one win each. At u16 level, Westville won three, College one, and there was a draw, with the A team game going in favour of Westville.
At u14 level, the Griffin kept on their successful ways, claiming three wins to one. Their excellent u14A team was pushed hard by College, but they came away with a 4-2 victory.
RESULTS
1st: Westville 3-3 Maritzburg College
2nd: Westville 0-1 Maritzburg College
3rd: Westville 3-0 Maritzburg College
4th: Westville 1-1 Maritzburg College
16A: Westville 2-1 Maritzburg College
16B: Westville 1-2 Maritzburg College
16C: Westville 2-0 Maritzburg College
16D: Westville 5-4 Maritzburg College
16E: Westville 0-0 Maritzburg College
14A: Westville 4-2 Maritzburg College
14B: Westville 2-1 Maritzburg College
14C: Westville 7-0 Maritzburg College
14D: Westville 0-1 Maritzburg College
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