Maritzburg College Reigns Supreme in Epic Winter Derby Clash
The annual KwaZulu-Natal winter derby roared back this past weekend, pitting Maritzburg College’s “#RedBlackWhite” against arch-rivals, the Glenwood “Green Machine.” Over two action-packed days, College dominated across the board, boasting an undefeated record on the hockey astro and securing a staggering 21 victories out of 23 rugby matches. Great results from Maritzburg College.
Rugby Result
On the rugby front, College’s 23 teams descended upon Durban to renew their 176-year-long rivalry with Glenwood. College’s historical dominance continued, adding another win to their impressive record of 111 triumphs in this epic clash.
The 1st XV secured a hard-fought 18-7 victory in the inaugural match for the newly established “James Dwyer Memorial Trophy.” This trophy, offered by Glenwood and the Dwyer family, honors their son/nephew, a Glenwood alumnus who tragically died serving in the British Army in Afghanistan in 2002. A special shoutout to College’s Jake Jansen, who was named Player of the Match for his stellar performance.
The past weekend saw the annual winter derby clash between two longstanding KwaZulu-Natal school rivals, Maritzburg College’s #Red
1st XV match report (Mr Tim Orchard, 1st XV coach) College travelled down to the Berea to take on Glenwood for their first fixture of the second term. The conditions were rather blustery and wet which made for a rather error strewn match. College started the stronger of the two teams, but Glenwood did have their moments and put College under pressure at times during the game.
College started strongly and managed to get onto the scoreboard after a powerful lineout maul allowed College to drive deep into Glenwood’s 22m area. After two quick phases, Raayke Maartens dived over for the first score of the match. The try was duly converted, and College looked good at 70 up after 11 minutes. Due to the conditions, the lineout maul would prove to be decisive as it again played a significant role in College’s second try of the game.
Another powerful lineout maul from College caused the Glenwood defenders to be pulled in creating space out wide. This space was duly exploited by College’s speedy winger Langelihle Makhathini to dot down in the righthand corner. Glenwood hit back soon afterwards, and the match became an arm-wrestle for the remainder of the first half. The score stood at 12-7 with College ruing several spilt chances whilst Glenwood were beginning to revel in the dogfight that characterized the end of the half. The second half was dominated by College in terms of territory and possession, but Glenwood still had enough fight to cause College to have some nervous moments. College, through the boot of James Slevin, extended their lead when two penalties were slotted over after Glenwood were adjudged to have infringed at the breakdown.
These remained the only points of the match as both sides coughed up the ball with great regularity. After an error strewn half, College emerged with the win 18-7, much to the satisfaction of the travelling supporters in attendance.
Maritzburg College 18 Tries: Maartens, Makhathini Conversion: Slevin Penalties: Slevin x2 Glenwood: 7
Hockey Results
College’s hockey teams won all 12 of their matches only conceding 6 goals and scoring an outstanding 63 goals.
1st XI match report (Mr Kyle Emerson, 1st XI coach)
The College 1st XI travelled down to Durban to play on Friday night, which always creates an exciting atmosphere. Due to four injuries, the 1st XI had four debutants in the team and the weather did not make things easy with gusty wind and sideways rain potentially disrupting the evening. However, this did not stop College from putting a dominant performance together. As anticipated, the match begun with a high pace as both teams pressed high and moved the ball around the field with purpose, on the quick outfield. College created a few chances in the first quarter but were unable to beat the Glenwood goalkeeper. It was only in the second quarter that the first goal came. Siwa Sithembu turned the ball over in midfield and played a superb, angled ball into the circle to find debutant Brett Hosking. With his first touch of the ball for the 1st XI, he received, he rolled it onto his backhand and fired a powerful shot past the Glenwood goalkeeper to give College the lead. Glenwood were unable to create a chance in the first half and had no meaningful circle entries.
The second half is when College really shifted a gear. Julian Konigkramer scored the second goal after the penalty corner was not stopped, it was passed to him and he hit an accurate back-hand into the goal. A few minutes later and the score would be 3-0 when Konigkramer claimed his second after his powerful drag-flick beat the goalkeeper. College continued to pile on the pressure and if it wasn’t for the Glenwood goalkeeper, who came off his line with purpose and energy, the goals would have kept coming. It was in the 4th quarter that Brett Hosking slotted another ball into the goal after a good turnover on the half-way line from forward Banele Dlamini. The fifth goal came from another well worked press which saw the ball turned over deep and Banele Dlamini made the pass to Ethan Maynard on the far post who tapped it in to make it 5-0. A convincing and strong performance from the College 1st XI who played to their strengths and moved the ball with purpose to find good connections and did not allow Glenwood to settle.
Sports Report complied by Maritzburg College
Rugby Results from around the country Hockey Results from around the country
