Menacing Monnas smash Glenwood

Thus ending Glenwood's unbeaten season with a thud. To be fair to them they were without three of their best players and 12 points in the last 10 minutes or so by the zealous Monument side may well have made the score look like a hiding.

That said, the Monnas' forwards were excellent. They were far too strong in the scrums, winning a tighthead and forcing four penalties against Glenwood. And they deserved rewards, showing willingness to run from first minute to last. Both sides suffered from handling problems on a windless, warm Highveld afternoon.

Glenwood, on the other hand, got the better of the breakdowns - winning several turnovers.

At half-time Monnas led 13-3.

Monnas ran out onto the field through a long tunnel and they did so with such speed that they must have been in danger of being breathless to start with. But after Glenwood kicked off and were penalised Monnas were soon in action. Then when Glenwood did not find touch with a long kick from a penalty, Monnas attacked from their own line to inside the Glenwood half.

Monnas were attacking and Glenwood were penalised at a tackle in front of their posts. Flyhalf Luke Rossouw put Monnas ahead, 3-0 after 13 minutes.

Glenwood attacked, Monnas went offside and Martin Holtzhausen, playing outside centre this week, goaled. 3-3 after 16 minutes.

Five minutes later, Glenwood went offside and Rossouw made it 6-3. It was strange that all the scoring had been from penalty kicks from two sides so eager to run.

The only try of the half came in the last minute of the half.

Big MJ Pelser, left-footed, kicked a long penalty kick out near the Glenwood line on the Monument right. Monnas threw deep into the line-out and peeled. Stocky prop Nathan McBeth, who has no trace of a Scottish accent in his Afrikaans, peeled away and gave to burly eighthman PJ Jacobs who was stopped at the Glenwood posts. Monnas went quickly left and tall Ruan Vermaak was too hard to stop. Rossouw converted.

Monnas started the second half at speed and when Glenwood were freekicked at a line-out they tapped, went wide and Dandré Prinsloo their much involved and skilful fullback scored. 18-3 after 41 minutes.

Glenwood went on the attack, right and left, with flyhalf Botha twice breaking the Monnas' defence. They tapped a penalty and Botha gave to fullback Dylan Kruger who was stropped right on the line but Botha was on hand to dab the ball over the line for the try, which Holtzhausen converted. 18-10 after 50 minutes.

Botha had a clearing kick charged down by Pelser and then Glenwood were penalised. 21-10 after 52 minutes.

Prinsloo had a long, fast run down the left side to set Monnas attacking. They went right where Pelser charged straight between two defenders to score a try converted by Rossouw. 28-10 after 56 minutes.

From the kick-off deep into the Monnas' half, the ball was passed to right wing Karel Vahrmeijer, who had had little to do in the match. He kicked downfield and chased. He got to the ball as it bounced high, flykicked it past a defender, waited it to calm down and fell on it for a splendid individual try. 33-10.

The next try was also a scintillating solo effort. Monnas had a man sin-binned for a tip tackle and Holtzhausen tapped the penalty near the half-way line and raced swerving as defenders could not get close to him till he scored the try and was felled by cramp. 33-15 with five minutes to go.

Glenwood were well in their own half when they knocked on straight to Rossouw who chipped ahead towards the goalposts, raced after it, gathered and slammed the ball down for a try. His conversion ended the match.

It was a splendid, lively match, again characterised by the good manners of the schoolboy players and their many supporters.

Scorers:

For  Monument:

Tries: Ruan Vermaak, Dandré Prinsloo, MJ Pelser, Karel Vahrmeijer, Luke Rossouw

Cons Luke Rossouw 3

Pens: Luke Rossouw 3

For Glenwood:

Tries: Francke Botha, Martin Holtzhausen

Con: Martin Holtzhausen

Pen: Martin Holtzhausen

Teams

Monument: 15 Dandré Prinsloo, 14 Karel Vahrmeijer, 13 Louwtjie Dyson, 12 MJ Pelser, 11 Arno van der Westhuizen, 10 Luke Rossouw, 9 Tinus Combrinck, 8 PJ Jacobs, 7 Cristen van Niekerk, 6 Kevin le Roux, 5 Ruan Vermaak, 4 Christopher Havenga, 3 Dewald Schoeman, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Nathan McBeth

Replacements: 16 Jano Lourens, 17 Coenrad Vrey, 18 Jandré Botha, 19 Larko Lindes, 20 Jonty Algera, 21 Brendan Buitendag, 22 Cameron Schutzler, 23 Dylan Wood

Glenwood: 15 Dylan Kruger, 14 Devon Brough,  13 Martin Holtzhausen, 12 Seun Maduna, 11 GJ Lubbe, 10 Francke Botha, 9 Jayden Jooste, 8 Austin Brummer (captain), 7 Kevin Smit, 6 Jonothan O'Neill, 5 Dylan Weideman, 4 Edward Laubscher, 3 Renier van Rooyen, 2 Brendon Schwulst, 1 Quintin Voster

Replacements: 16 Connor Botha, 17 Shane Westman, 18 Lindelwe Cele, 19 Matthew Bauer, 20 Brad Roodt, 21 Sibonakaliso Dubazane, 22 Morné van Rensburg, 23 Conan le Fleur

Referee: LJ Swart (Golden Lions Referees' Society)

Assistant referees: Mothusi Shuping (Golden Lions Referees' Society), Peter du Toit (Golden Lions Referees' Society)