College beats Westville
Maritzburg College recorded an outstanding 29-9 away victory over Westville on Saturday.
Four top-drawer tries produced out of inspirational sequences left the Westville defence in tatters and paved the way for a remarkable and somewhat surprising outcome to a game that everyone anticipated would be a much closer affair.
College took the field without nine regular first choice players, eight of whom were missing because of injury while the eighth player was sidelined just for the weekend because of a technicality. With these disruptions it was reasonable to believe that the patched-up visiting team would take time to settle and spend the best part of the afternoon on the back-foot.
This was not to be the case. College started like a house on fire. In next to no time at all they were 14-0 to the good.
In the opening series, the ball was moved beautifully through the hands from left to right and then back again, each carrier seemingly gaining valuable ground, until it was left for Thato Molelekoa to crash over.
With the quality ahead of him in the pecking order this season, usual College third team prop Grobbler, might not have held on to any hopes of representing the First XV this season. Nevertheless for this big match as the best available loosehead, he was charged with the responsibility of getting the job done. His fine work epitomised what the Red, White, Black is really all about.
A solid scrum in the middle of the park, helped by Grobbler's input, was the platform for the next try after just five minutes. With their backline split, College opted to go right, giving Jesse Kriel another of his several opportunities that day to terrorise reluctant defenders. He picked a good line and then used a deadly combination of speed and strength on his feet to move in-between opponents and force them to fall off tackles on the way to dotting down behind the sticks.
Minutes later College came close to scoring a third try. Again Jesse Kriel was destructive and close to the line, new wing Cyle Muil just did not have the physique to power over and was forced to concede possession to the cover defence.
From that point onwards, Westville took absolute control of the first half. They dominated territory and possession and played their own brand of attractive, well coordinated rugby involving some good carries and short passes.
Mxoli was just about the most determined performer for the home team, proving to be more than a handful, thanks in large to some commanding runs and well-timed offloads. He was also the player at the centre of the most controversial moment of the game when he was judged to have stepped out before crossing the tryline to score what would have been a striking and well-deserved Westville try.
Westville pressed on and their pressure was finally rewarded with an easy penalty that Snyman slotted home in the 25th minute to make it 14-3.
Snyman followed this up with two further close range successes as Westville clawed their way back to 14-9 just before the break.
In the last act before half-time, College kicker Coetzee who had converted both tries earlier on, increased the lead to 17-9 via a penalty awarded from where the kick-off landed.
Even still, Westville went into the break with their tails up. They had weathered the early storm, were playing some good rugby and with the wind at their backs for the next 35 minutes on their home soil, they had good reason to feel optimistic despite being eight points adrift.
The start of the second half added to this promise of a home team comeback. Westville were persistent and College didn't look entirely comfortable. At an early stage the ankle injury to the visiting captain and line-out ace Smith looked like it might turn out to be the straw that broke the camel's back but the influential No.8 played through the pain barrier to complete a memorable game.
After a period of Westville ascendency, College settled and found their structures once more. Quality returned to their play resulting in better control and more possession.
In a match in which there was not an awful lot to separate the teams on attack, there was a marked difference in their defending at key moments. Whereas College fronted up and broke up Westville's rhythm when it mattered most, the same could not be said of the Highways team. When push came to shove, Westville either missed crucial tackles or were slow to respond to threatening attacks.
Yet another set scrum paved the way for Muil's brilliant individual try midway through the second half. Flying down the right-hand touchline, the slightly built wing used his speed to blitz his way passed the first-line defence and then cut inside. It initially appeared that he would be stopped just short of the tryline but momentum, sheer determination and some good strength in the contact saw him home.
Coetzee added two to push the College lead up to 24-9.
Westville continued to press, making headway nearer the fringes of breakdown but never quite getting it right to use their width to challenge.
It was College who got the last score though. From a line-out on the Westville 22m line, College set a perfect pod and produced arguably their most successful rolling maul of the season. A patient, well coordinated drive slowly worked its way towards and eventually over the Westville line where Conradie was the last player to emerge from the pile holding the ball.
29-9 is how this very good game of schoolboy rugby ended.
Westville's attacking flair certainly deserved more rewards however their fatigued looking defence is in need of a shake up. The Westville team also has to be commended for wearing yellow arm-bands in support of a very worthy cause in South Africa - the Rhino Awareness Campaign.
For College a far better understanding of the referee's decision-making this time round kept the penalty count down and helped continuity and confidence. Despite all their injuries, they are peaking and this is being helped in part by the much healthier balance between the work done by forwards and backs these days.
The teams:
Westville: 15 L Snyman, 14 D Aylward, 13 B Ellse, 12 T Moller, 11 K Paverd, 10 R McHardy, 9 C Jackson, 8 T Ngcongo (captain), 7 E O'Neil, 6 A De La Rey, 5 G van den Berg, 4 C Eibig, 3 N Mxoli, 2 M Downer, 1 M Zondi.
Maritzburg College: 15 J Kriel, 14 C Muil, 13 M Coetzee, 12 T Molelekoa, 11 B Ngwenya, 10 L Booysen, 9 J Rencken, 8 R Smith (captain), 7 J Conradie, 6 C Christie, 5 R Kamhoot, 4 R Pieterse, 3 A Cahill, 2 V Khatide, 1 J Grobbler.
By Beet