Overview Sporting Achievements: Maritzburg College’s hockey and rugby teams travelled to Glenwood for the last fixtures of the season, while the soccer teams faced Hillcrest High at home. College’s golfers, cyclists, canoeists and squash players were also in action with some good results.
Hockey
College’s hockey teams waited until their last fixtures to post the best results of the season – winning all nine of their matches. A number of the wins were with large goal differences and saw College secure 54 goals for and only 3 against – a 51 goal point difference!
1st XI match report (Mr Kyle Emerson, 1st XI coach)
The final game of the season is always an emotional one, no more so than for the matric boys in the team. The objective and focus was to ensure the game was about the 16 boys wearing the 1st XI shirt, not any individual but rather on the team getting the job done. The Glenwood 1st team were up for the challenge and did well to defend deep and keep College from scoring.
Many chances were created by College in the opening quarter but the Glenwood goalkeeper, with his speed of his line, was able to stifle many attacks. Julian Konigkramer opened the scoring towards the end of the first quarter when he rolled the ball past the advancing goalkeeper after a great ball was passed down the line by Kyle Dobeyn. Glenwood were unable to secure a meaningful circle entry in the first half, but they only needed one to bring the scores level. A long ball was hit from deep into their own half and a lone Glenwood forward did well to sprint and slap the ball in with a onetime finish.
The College defence were punished for switching off. Chance after chance went begging for College, and the fourth quarter began with the teams still all square at 1-1. The aerial ball high into the attacking third of the field was proving to be problematic for Glenwood earning College a penalty corner. Asanda Khumalo tried to find Konigkramer on the far post for a deflection but his flick did not come off and the bobbling ball with a slow pace deceived the goalkeeper who had denied College so many times, and sadly for him it squeezed through his pads and into the goal.
The momentum continued to be in College’s favour and now in the lead, they played with more freedom, their high press turning the ball over high in the field. An aerial ball was thrown into the circle and Bryn Brokensha was able to collect the loose ball and calmly slot it past the goalkeeper to extend their lead.
The next goal saw great interplay between the College team, and a hard ball played into the circle was deflected by Caden Jenkins to Konigkramer whose diving slap saw him get his second goal of the match. Another penalty corner allowed Uyanda Dlamini to flick a rocket into the top right of the goal, and the final goal came from a turnover deep in the College half, and a great counterattack was finished off by Khumalo on the far post. Glenwood did well to take the game deep and made College work for their goals but they proved too strong for the Durban side and in the fourth quarter their dominance was shown by scoring five goals. A very good result at 6-1 to College to close off the season.
Rugby
College fielded 20 rugby teams against Glenwood, winning 15 of their matches, drawing two and losing three.
1st XV match report (Mr Tim Orchard, 1st XV coach)
Saturday’s match against Glenwood High School marked the final fixture of the Maritzburg College rugby season. Both sides entered the match looking to end off their respective seasons with a win, Maritzburg College looking to claim a win away from home and their first “double” against their foes from the Berea, whilst Glenwood were looking to redeem themselves after their unexpected loss against Rustenburg the previous weekend.
The match started off with Glenwood having the lion’s share of possession as College battled to get out of their own half due to a combination of a stiff breeze and flagrancy with ball in hand. It took fifteen minutes for the first points to be scored in the match and the way it was scored must have sent shivers down the spine of the Glenwood coaching staff. After Glenwood gave away a soft penalty, College opted for the lineout to give their dominant maul a chance to have an impact on the game. The resulting maul rumbled on for twenty metres leaving Glenwood defenders in its wake with the end result being hooker Elbie Mouton diving over the try line to score College’s first points of the game.
Possession was shared between the two teams as College toiled to exit their own half and Glenwood looked to punish their visitors for not looking after the ball, and the next try scoring moment fell to the home side. The referee deemed College to have charged down a Glenwood kick which ended up behind the deadball line for a Glenwood scrum. From the resulting scrum, Glenwood shifted the ball to the openside looking for a way to breach the resolute College defense, they found no joy there but when they shifted it to the other side of the field, they found the chink in College’s armour they were looking for.
A College defender was caught flatfooted by the Glenwood attack, allowing a Glenwood player an opportunity to slice through the College defense and score under the uprights to level the score at 7-7. Both sides went into half time looking for ways to breach the others defense.
The second half started off in a very lively fashion as Glenwood were gifted a try straight away as the bounce of the ball went their way allowing them to put the score at 12-7. It took College eight agonising minutes before they could respond with a try of their own. From a scrum just inside the Glenwood half, College used the blindside wisely releasing Langelihle Makhathini to score a wonderful try and take College back into the lead at 14-12.
The game sew sawed until Glenwood took advantage from an attempted clearance which was charged down, and with the College defense in tatters, raced away to score in front of their jubilant fans and tie the game at 17-17. College hit back again with another maul try, with Elbie Mouton again emerging with ball in hand much to relief of the College faithful. With the kick converted, the score moved to 24-17 in favour of College. The resulting kickoff ushered in a very nervy passage of play for the visiting team as Glenwood were not out of the game just yet. Glenwood hit back next as a good passage of play allowed them to crash over and reduce the deficit to a mere two points! With time up, Maritzburg College hearts were once again shattered by their foes from Glenwood who took advantage of a sluggish defense to find space on the right-hand side and race away to win the game 24-27.
Maritzburg College 24 Tries: E. Mouton x2, L. Makhathini Conversions: L. Du Toit x2 Glenwood 27
Soccer Five
College teams took on Hillcrest High on the weekend, with all the matches played at home. There were good wins for four of the teams, and in particular the U14A side.
1st XI won 1-0 2nd XI won 2-0 U16A won 3-0 U15A lost 0-1 U14A won 4-0
Sports report compiled by Maritzburg College.
