The last round of winter fixtures ended on a high for College as they dominated in their fixtures against Glenwood. The 1^st XV secured a double victory in their 2^nd game against Glenwood this season, for the first time in nearly two decades. College’s hockey were undefeated on the day in all 11 matches, with the Red Army 1^st XI winning their match 4-1. College’s soccer teams also had a great day at Clifton with all teams winning their matches, while the cycling and canoeing teams also produced excellent results. Ahead of the School’s Top 10 tournament, College’s squash players secured a 12-0 victory against PBHS.

Rugby

College’s rugby teams fought hard against their rivals from Glenwood only losing one of their 22 matches played and drawing one.

1^st XV match report (Mr Tim Orchard – 1^st XV coach)

The last time that Maritzburg College accomplished the double over Glenwood High was in 2005 and on Saturday that long-standing accomplishment was finally achieved again. The match was a frenetic affair as both sides threw caution to the wind in the last fixture of the season for both sides.

Maritzburg College were the stronger of the teams, but a tenacious Glenwood made sure that the home team had to work extremely hard for their win.

Maritzburg College didn’t take long to score their first try of match when Jordan Thackwray finished a series of incisive line breaks by the College backs to score the first of his two tries of the game. He was involved again soon afterwards when he slotted over a penalty to take the score to 8-0 to the home side. Glenwood hit back through their goalkicker after College infringed at the breakdown, something that would prove to be a regular occurrence during the match reducing the deficit to five points with the score standing at 8-3. College kept the pressure on their visitors and eventually the dam wall burst when Thackwray again found a chink in the defence of Glenwood to scamper away and score under the uprights to score a converted try. The score stood at 15-3 with College looking firmly in control but a series of penalties allowed Glenwood to march up the field. On a team warning, College again was penalised resulting in their skipper being yellow carded for illegally stopping a Glenwood maul. Using their numerical advantage Glenwood scored in the far left hand corner of the field to score an unconverted try on the stroke of halftime to put the score at 15-8.

After the kickoff, Glenwood exploited a very narrow College defence to race deep into the College half. From the resulting breakdown, College was deemed to have been illegal and allowed Glenwood to exploit their numerical advantage in the forwards to score the first points of the half bring the scores level. College got back soon afterwards when their stand-in tighthead prop Bulali Madikizela won a tight head which was shifted quickly to Swelihle Mbatha who raced away to put College back in front at 20-15. The match fell into a lull where both sides looked to score the next points, but unforced errors prevented the match from sparking into life. Glenwood had a scrum deep in their own half, but the powerful College scrum won another tighthead and Imivuyo Kemka gathered the ball to score to bring about some much-needed breathing space between the two teams taking the score to 27-15. College now began to dominate the match but could not finish off a series of powerful driving mauls that were brought down agonisingly close to the Glenwood line. Eventually, the home team succeeded in scoring off a driving maul when Glenwood were adjudged to have brought a maul that was destined to score down and the referee had no choice but award the home team a penalty try to further extend their lead to 34-15. Glenwood hit back through a piece of individual brilliance allowing them to reduce the deficit to fourteen points at 34-20. With mere seconds left on the clock, College kicked off and immediately won the ball back. From the resulting breakdown, Raayke Maartens sniped through the Glenwood defence to race away and score in the right-hand corner of the Glenwood tryline bring the end to what was a very frenetic game of rugby. College emerged victorious at 39-20 much to the delight to their home fans in attendance.

The win on Goldstones finally brought to an end a long-standing record which College had tried to accomplish numerous times over the years, a “double” over their foes from Glenwood. This was the final match of the season and was a fitting end to a long and arduous season for the Red, Black and White.

Maritzburg College 39

Tries: Thackwray x2, Kemka, Mbatha, Penalty and Maartens Conversions: Thackwray x3

Penalties: Thackwray x2 Glenwood 20 Summary of results:

Hockey

College’s hockey team produced exceptional results for their last round of matches of the season. Eleven wins from 11 games, and a positive goal difference of 48, is testament to the boys’ determination and skill!

1^st XI match report (Mr Kyle Emerson – 1^st XI coach)

The last fixture of the season was full of emotion, especially for the matric boys. Playing their last match, and fortunate to have it on Pape’s, gave them some extra motivation and drive. Glenwood were not going to lie down and hand College the win. The first fixture of the year against Glenwood saw College win convincingly and the visitors had a point to prove for their final fixture of the season too.

The match started off at a very high intensity, with Glenwood applying a full man-to-man press to try and eliminate College’s ability to move the ball around the field. This meant there were quite a few double turnovers, so it was end to end. College dominated the first quarter and created more chances, but it was Glenwood who took the lead after a rare circle entry which lead to a penalty corner. It was finished off with a good drag flick low to the bottom corner. This sprung College into action and allowed them to create a few good chances but the Glenwood goalkeeper was quick to react to them. The College defenders were good at using high balls to pick out the forwards to gain the advantage. Eventually it was Julian Konigkramer who fired a rocket of a drag flick to beat both the ‘keeper and the postman, after he did well to earn the penalty corner. College kept threatening and after a deep turnover, launched a counterattack through Matthew Smith who eliminated his defender down the left-hand touch line and ran into the circle, he calmly got his head up and found team-mate Rory Schirge on the far post for a clinical tap-in. College were 2-1 up at half time.

The second half saw Glenwood start to tire from their high pressing game and College dominating possession, creating more chances from different areas in the field. The third goal came from the left-hand side of the field when Banele Dlamini broke forward and picked out Konigkramer, who beat his man and rolled the ball to the far post, where Uyanda Dlamini did well to get in front of his man and deflect the ball goalwards. Ill-discipline cost Glenwood dearly, as they earned a few cards, and were lucky not to receive more, for their clumsy and deliberate break-down tackles. This allowed College to manage the pace of the game and start to thread balls into the circle. Chance after chance went begging as the Glenwood ‘keeper stopped the home side from extending their lead. Uyanda Dlamini proved to be a menace for the visitors and earned a stroke when he got the ball in the circle and the overzealous ‘keeper fouled him from behind. He calmly stepped up and buried the stroke, to take the score to 4-1 and out of reach of Glenwood.

That is how it ended, although College felt they should have added more to the scoreboard as they had multiple circle entries when Glenwood could not build enough phases together to create meaningful chances. The emotions after the game were evident, especially from the matric boys who played their final game for the Red Army, and it showed how much playing for this team and their badge meant for them. A dominant performance on the day from the 1^st XI, highlighted their recent form and the manner in which they have played the game this season.

Summary of results:

Squash

College’s Top 12 squash team secured another clean victory yesterday, 12-0, against PBHS, which bodes well for their participation in SA Top Schools next weekend.

Soccer

Congratulations to College’s soccer teams who took on Clifton in a series of five away matches and

secured five wins. U14A won 2-1

U15A won 1-0

U16A won 2-0

2nds won 2-0

1sts won 4-1

Canoeing

Well done to the College canoeists who took part in the two-day KZN schools river race on the Tugela over the weekend, with the boys taking 1^st place in all the age categories.

U18

Keegan Vogt 1^st Jayden JvRensburg 4^th Luke O’Connor 5^th Jack Odell 9^th

Simon Norton 11^th

U16

Josh Worthmann 1^st Matt Rawson 2^nd Nathan Curry 5^th U14

Keigan Clarke 1^st

Cycling

College cyclists raced at Eston Illovo today in hot and dusty conditions, producing excellent results.

60km race. Junior men’s category:

1st L.Newlands; 3rd M.Jewaskiewitz

Youth men’s category:

5th K.Searle

40km race. Senior men’s category:

1st M.Barnardo

Junior men’s category:

2nd C.Sellick; 6th J.Anderson

Youth men’s category:

4th B.Fourie

18km race. Sub-junior boy:

4th C.Baxter

Cross Country

The College cross country team took part in the KZN championship in Amanzimtoti over the weekend.

U14

L Makoba 6^th

U17

C Gould 13^th

E McAllister 18^th

E Hamadziripi 27^th

U19

J Werth 31^st

Debating

In the school’s semi-final debating competition, College’s grade 8 team won their round while the seniors lost to GHS 1.

Grade 8:

College 2 v GHS – won, K Mkhwane best speaker

Seniors:

College 2 v GHS 1 – lost

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