Michaelhouse beat Glenwood

Victory in Balgowan

Glenwood went up from Durban to play Michaelhouse in the Midlands. Michaelhouse, who have been having and up-and-down season, won 33-22.

The following report is from Glenwood

You win some and you lose some, and all goods things come to an end! These were some of the expressions after Glenwood’s defeat to Michaelhouse over the past weekend. But to be true and honest,  the fact is that Glenwood were beaten by the better team on the day.

Michaelhouse is the furthest team in KwaZulu Natal to travel to from Durban, and to play in Balgowan is no easy feat by any means.

Glenwood started the game like a house on fire, racing to a 15-0 lead within the first 15 minutes. First to dot down after four minutes was Glenwood flank Tinus Kauhrau after continuous drives at the House line saw him crash over from close quarters.

Second over for Glenwood was centre Senzele Khanyile after Glenwood had found space out wide on the left-wing.

The third try came after 14 minutes when Glenwood had a line-out 30 metres from the House line. Glenwood drove from the line-out and split the maul in two which opened a gap for eighthman Quintin Burke to scramble 30 metres for a well worked forwards' try!

Glenwood flyhalf Dominic Momberg was off target with all three conversions and House seemed a little shell shocked after the score had raced to 15-0. But the sign of a good team is that they never panic, regroup, and start again. This is exactly what Michaelhouse did which in turn swung the whole game on its head and House played all the rugby thereafter.

Glenwood lost eighthman Burke to injury was well as flank Tinus Kauhrau within five minutes of each other, and this opened the door wider for House to take the advantage.

House responded with a penalty from flyhalf Wian Potgieter on the 15-minute mark and this marked the start of a gutsy fight back by the midlands team.

House fullback Nakin was superb on Saturday. He counterattacked with ease and put Glenwood under much pressure. His fine performance was to be rewarded with a try after 22 minutes which was unconverted by Potgieter, though he added a penalty on half-time for the teams to go into the break at 15-11 to Glenwood.

The second half saw the floodgates open for six minutes as three tries were scored within this period. House dotted down after two minutes after Nakin again found space, duly converted by Potgieter.

With Glenwood still finding their feet House flank Thorpe was next to put a five pointer on the board, converted by Potgieter thus thrusting House into a 25-15 lead.

Glenwood now had to consolidate, and after stringing phases together found space for centre Senzele Khanyile to jinx through, converted by Momberg to close the gap to three points.

Glenwood were unable to play themselves back into the game as Michaelhouse sustained their pressure and dominance on the remainder of the game. House were by far the hungrier of the two teams and played the better rugby. House rounded off the game with a penalty by Potgieter and another five-pointer by prop Badenhorst to give them a well earned 33-22 win.

Glenwood will need to regroup and focus on the next game as they just don't get any easier. Glenwood play DHS at DHS on Saturday with the kickoff at 15.30.