11 March 2024
The 2024 rugby season began at the Riverside Sports Club for Clifton College, with nine teams running out against Durban Development. Clifton dominated the A side games, but it was a lot tighter in other contests. The 1st XV victory went Clifton’s way, 49-0.
A hot and humid day added an extra challenge to those usually found in season-opening games, including handling, maintaining possession in the tackle, and the accuracy of passing, especially the last pass. All of those challenges were on show in the 1st team match.
In the first half, Durban Development was under the cosh, but they managed to stop the Clifton 1st XV just shy of the try line on a number of occasions, which was a combination of good defence and Clifton not being able to release the last pass, or that pass not going to hand.
However, with captain Lungani Ngcobo and his fellow front-rankers, Bandile Nhlabathi and Khanya Mgabi, leading the way, Clifton quickly established dominance in the scrums. Given quality possession, the backline soon began to find gaps in the Durban Development defence.
After a bit of an arm wrestle in the opening stanza, Clifton scored late to go into halftime 17-0 to the good. After the break, with the team doing a good job of getting the ball out wide, the home side outflanked Durban Development regularly and ran in some eye-catching tries.
They added a further 32 points in the second half to run out convincing winners. What would have pleased the Clifton coaches was that, from the first half to the second half, there was a noticeable improvement in ball retention, ball movement, and the accuracy of their passing, as Clifton shook off some of the early season rust.
They will, however, need to be even better on the coming weekend, when they travel to Pietermaritzburg for a showdown with Maritzburg College on Goldstone’s.
Kearsney did Clifton no favours by slotting a last-second penalty to beat College in Botha’s Hill on Saturday. Now, a fired-up College awaits Clifton. It will be a good test of the Durban side’s credentials.
Results
1st: Clifton 49-0 Durban Development
2nd: Clifton 28-0 Durban Development
3rd: Clifton 0-43 Durban Development
16A: Clifton 44-0 Durban Development
16B: Clifton 15-14 Durban Development
15A: Clifton 55-0 Durban Development
15B: Clifton 19-14 Durban Development
14A: Clifton 60-0 Durban Development
14B: Clifton 20-10 Durban Development
Leave a Reply