3 June 2024
(Article by Marlowe Bloem)
On Saturday, Clifton hosted Kearsney at the Riverside Sports Club, with the visitors having boosted their morale after a stirring 25-22 at Glenwood the previous weekend.
The Greyhounds were first on the board, striking in the 12th minute, when their left-wing Bukho Hlwatika cut inside from touchline, near the Clifton 22. He was tackled but managed to offload a pass to outside centre Cameron Veenstra, who had looped around, and he was through for a try, which he converted, too.
In the 21st minute, when Clifton tried to exit their 22 by passing the ball down their backline, the speedy Kearsney press resulted in a turnover of possession, when the ball failed to go to hand, and right-wing Valentino Lenge, with some fancy footwork, evaded a horde of defenders to score. Veenstra converted successfully.
On the half-hour, Kearsney loosehead prop Kuda Kachambwa made a pick-and-go from a ruck. He offloaded in a tackle to hooker Blake Kruger, who charged ahead and dragged a tackler over the line for five points. Once more, Veenstra added the extras.
On the brink of halftime, Kearsney scored from long range, from a lineout. After a clean take, scrumhalf Murray Weyer received the ball. He spotted a gap and weaved his way through the Clifton forwards before laying on a try for captain and tighthead prop Anele Cele. Another Veenstra conversion made it 28-0 in favour of Kearsney at half-time.
Five minutes into the second half, and the One-Stripe were at it again. After taking the ball through a number of phases, Kearsney found themselves 10 metres out from the try-line. They moved the ball wide from left to right, creating an overlap, which allowed Lenge to go over for his brace.
Clifton resisted and managed to apply some pressure, but they were let down by their failure to retain possession from set pieces.
In the 55th minute, the Greyhounds sniffed out and exploited space with some strong runs. Shifting the ball through the hands brought them up into the Clifton 22, and Kearney’s Craven Week back, Cameron Veenstra, was put into space to score his second try.
With only three minutes to go, Veenstra completed his hat-trick when he cut in and through the Clifton defence. The only thing that wasn’t going according to plan for the centre was his kicking in the second half, but it was, otherwise, a fantastic game from the flyer.
Then, on the very last play of the game, Kearsney further bolstered their total, with a line break creating an overlap, which put substitute back Rogan Strydom over in the left-hand corner.
Final score: 48-0 in favour of Kearsney.
It was a somewhat deflating loss for Clifton, whose set piece play let them down. However, they showed resilience in the second half, doing a better job of maintaining possession.
Kearsney, after two wins on the trot, will be excited to face Michaelhouse on Saturday, on Stott Field.
The Clifton 1st XV will return to action on Saturday, 29 June, at the Independent Schools Rugby Festival (ISRF), which is being hosted by St Alban’s College in Pretoria.
They’ll hope to recapture some of the form they showed at last year’s event at St Andrew’s School in Bloemfontein, where they posted a clean record, beating St Stithians 29-19, Union High 29-8, and CBC Boksburg 73-0.
They face St Andrew’s School in their first match. On Monday, 1 July, they take on St David’s Marist Inanda, and they finish off on Wednesday, 3 July, with a match against St John’s College.
Kearsney will also be in action at the ISRF. They face a trio of Johannesburg schools – St John’s College, St Benedict’s, and St David’s.
2023 ISRF Reports and Highlights
Clifton handle Union in ISRF opener, YouTube highlights
KZN schools unbeaten after day two of 2023 ISRF, YouTube highlights
Kearsney pushed hard but KZN schools rule at 2023 ISRF, YouTube highlights
Overall, Kearsney owned the open age group games, but the Clifton u16A team gave the visitors a good run for their money, going down by 14 points in a game which yielded 62 in total.
Kearsney comfortably won the u15 matches, but Clifton’s exciting u14A side notched up yet another win after a hard-fought battle.
RESULTS
1st: Clifton 0-48 Kearsney
2nd: Clifton 0-36 Kearsney
3rd: Clifton 0-31 Kearsney 6th
16A: Clifton 24-38 Kearsney
16B: Clifton 3-31 Kearsney u16C
15A: Clifton 3-40 Kearsney
15B: Clifton 29-50 Kearsney u15C
14A: Clifton 12-5 Kearsney
14B: Clifton 0-31 Kearsney
HOCKEY
The Kearsney College 1st XI scored an impressive 3-0 win over Clifton on the Riverside Sports Club Astro on Saturday. To put that victory into context, two very good teams, Northwood and, earlier in the week, DHS, had fallen to Clifton at the venue this season. And Kearsney had drawn with the Knights and lost to the Horseflies when they met.
Clifton started confidently, dominating possession and territory, but they were hit with a sucker punch when the visitors scored from their first attack of the contest, with Bonga Mapanga providing the finish after 10 minutes.
Kearsney captain Matt de Oliveira doubled his side’s lead from a penalty corner in the second chukka, and Keagan de Jager made sure of the win with a flick into the top corner of the goal box in the fourth chukka.
The game of the day was delivered by the u14A teams, with Kearsney winning by the odd goal in seven
RESULTS
1st: Clifton 0-3 Kearsney
2nd: Clifton 0-3 Kearsney
3rd: Clifton 0-2 Kearsney
4th: Clifton 0-3 Kearsney
16A: Clifton 2-5 Kearsney
16B: Clifton 2-5 Kearsney
16C: Clifton 0-4 Kearsney
16D: Clifton 0-10 Kearsney
14A: Clifton 3-4 Kearsney
14B: Clifton 0-1 Kearsney
14C: Clifton 1-2 Kearsney
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