Sporting Achievements:
The Maritzburg College campus buzzed with energy and excitement over the weekend as it hosted the inaugural biannual derby against Pretoria Boys High School (PBHS). Known for its fervor and thrill, the event lived up to its reputation. With an impressive lineup of 52 individual fixtures spanning across ten sporting and cultural categories, including a thrilling series of hockey and rugby matches on Saturday, the atmosphere was electric.
Earlier in the week saw the start of the soccer season with College fielding five teams in action against various schools.
Rugby
College fielded 29 teams on Saturday, with 28 of them taking on PBHS. It was a great day for the Red Black White who won 25 of their games. The 1st XV secured a convincing 43-15 win against PBHS on Goldstones much to the delight of the boys on Basher Ridge.
1st XV match report (Mr Tim Orchard, 1st XV coach)
Maritzburg College’s fixtures against PBHS are always closely contested, and the 1st team rugby match was no different. The first half was a very cagey affair and College had to work very hard to maintain their lead with PBHS firmly in the fight with a gutsy display for which they are renowned. The second half was a very different to the first, with College‘s plan to subdue the PBHS maul proving very effective, and they played some very expansive rugby walking away with a comfortable win. The first half was a very tightly fought battle, with PBHS giving as good as they got whilst making College sweat in the process.
The first try of the game was scored by Jake Jansen who, after a good piece of counter-attacking rugby, gifted College a penalty right on the Boys High tryline, allowing them to use a set-piece move and grab the first try of the game. PBHS hit back relatively quickly through a lineout variation to catch the College defence napping, putting the score at 7-5. College hit back during the middle stanza of the half with Nkululeko Sithole barging his way over after a good passage of play from the home team. This put the score at 14-5 with twenty minutes left of the half.
PBHS were the next to score through a penalty underneath the uprights calmly slotted over reducing the lead to just 6 points. College hit back again through another penalty move, this time Imivuyo Kemka scoring the try and catching the PBHS defence cold. The try was converted, and the score stood at 21-8 with minutes remaining in the half. From the kickoff, a poor exit allowed PBHS to have a lineout in the College half which they accepted with glee as it allowed them to use their maul to good effect. College was adjudged to have infringed, and the ball was kicked out five meters from the College goal-line with PBHS thundering over for the last score of the half putting the score at 21 13 at the halftime break.
The second half promised to be a tight affair with Boys High having their tales firmly up after scoring the final try of the half. College scored the first points through the boot of James Slevin who kicked over a penalty to extend the College lead to eleven points, putting the score at 24-13. College had the wind at their back and began to use it effectively, pinning their opponents deep within their own half. A spilt lineout by Boys High was quickly shifted to the wing to allow Reinhardt Jacobsz to score a smartly worked try in the left-hand corner. The conversion was kicked over, and College extended their lead to 31-15. After a good lineout drive, captain Phiwaynkosi Kubheka barged over to score, the try was converted, and College now had a unassailable lead at 38-13. More good play from College allowed Jacobsz to grab his second try of the match and take the score to 43-13, which proved to be the final score of the match.
Maritzburg College:
43 Tries: Jansen, Kemka, Kubheka and Jacobsz x2 Conversions: Slevin x4
Penalty: Slevin
Pretoria Boys High 15
Hockey
College’s hockey teams had to dig deep in their games against worthy competitors, PBHS, winning nine of their 16 games, losing four and drawing three. The Red Army 1st XI won their game 1-0 playing in front of a very supportive home crowd on Pape’s.
1st XI match report (Mr Kyle Emerson, 1st XI coach)
The fixture between College and PBHS is always a tight one which is evenly matched. There is a guarantee that both teams will play with passion and resolve until the final whistle, and this match saw exactly that. PBHS got off to a fast start and had an early circle entry and missed chance in the opening minute of the match.
After that, College was the stronger team in the first half and dominated possession and territory. They were able to turn PBHS over many times and kept the ball due to PBHS sitting a bit deeper in defence. After good build up play from the back, Ryan McKean slapped a ball through to the field and when the defender mis-trapped the ball, Tai Fulton was well-positioned to get the bouncing ball. He controlled it well and popped it over the advancing goalkeeper to give College an early lead in the first quarter.
The PBHS goalkeeper was up the task on the day and made many good saves. His best was when Julian Konigkramer flicked College’s first penalty corner of the day and he made a diving stick save. Nic Holmes was also on fire and made a good stick save in the first half. College were unable to take any of their other chances in the first half, with the score at 1-0 at half time, College feeling like they were in the driving seat.
PBHS started the second half with a flurry of energy and renewed vigour and caught College sleeping. The momentum shifted in the favour of the visitors who couldn’t make that count. College gave away a silly penalty corner for not being five metres away from a free hit with about 3 minutes to go in the third quarter. Solid defence and concentration ensued where College were able to keep out seven consecutive penalty corners from PBHS. Another chance went begging to extend the lead when Ethan Maynard fired a good shot at the goals but the goalkeeper advanced quickly and blocked the angle.
After a good counterattack, Konigkramer was fouled in the circle and College earned a stroke. Once again, the PBHS goalkeeper kept his team in the hunt by diving low to save the stroke taken by captain Ipeleng Mospuye. College were nearly made to pay for these missed chances as PBHS hit the cross bar with two minutes to go, and in the dying seconds they were only able to hit the post.
The game was exciting for the spectators and even though there was only one goal scored, there was plenty of good hockey that created scoring opportunities. It was the goalkeepers who were most impressive and must be praised for showing defensive pride in keeping their team in the hunt for the result they were after. Another classis encounter between two great schools that saw College take the win 1-0.
Cycling
It was a busy weekend for the College MTB team. They hosted PBHS up at the Knoll in Winterskloof on Friday, and racing on their home trails, the boys were in top form securing the Senior and the Junior trophies and placing 1st and 3rd in both races. Senior race Luke Newlands – 1st Brent Foster 3rd Junior race Kayden Searle 1st Daniel Janneker 3rd
On Sunday, College’s cyclists took part in the 2nd KZN Provincial race at Cascades MTB Park. In the Junior Men category, College secured 2nd -5th places, while in the Youth Men category, the boys placed 2nd, 10th and 18th. Junior Men
Luke Newlands 2nd Brent Foster 3rd Cole Sellick 4th Michael Jewaskiewitz 5th Youth Men Kayden Searle 2nd Daniel Janneker 10th Joe Jankovich 18th Sub Junior Men Cole Baxter 5th
Chess Pretoria Boys High were the stronger chess players over the weekend, with College winning five and drawing two of the 24 matches played.
Squash
College’s top 12 squash players (1st and 2nd teams) both drew 3-3 against PBHS in some very competitive games.
Table Tennis
The College table tennis teams won 21 of their 31 games against PBHS 1st team won 6- 4 2nd team drew 5-5 3rd team won 5- 0 5th team won 5-0
Public Speaking
College won the Public Speaking competition against PBHS and took the top 3 places. 1st Place – C Robinson 95% 2nd Place – M du Toit 92% 3rd Place – I Jikijo 88%
Debating College’s Seniors won the debating against PBHS, with A Mhlanzi being named as best speaker.
Golf
College’s golfers lost 2-4 against PBHS.
Soccer
The week saw the start of the soccer season with College’s five teams taking on various schools, winning four the five games. The 1st XI drew 2-2 against Ixopo. 1st vs Ixopo drew 2-2 2nd vs Linpark 1st won 2-1 16A vs ML Sultan 1st won 2-1 15A vs DBN Academy won 4-3 14A vs DBN Academy won 14-0
Report from Maritzburg College
