Sports News for Maritzburg College vs Glenwood
Maritzburg College’s teams took on the Glenwood Green Machine over the weekend, with a full round of rugby and hockey matches. It was an excellent day for the #RedBlackWhite winning 9 of the 11 hockey matches, and 25 of the 28 rugby matches against Glenwood.
Rugby
Twenty-eight rugby teams were in action on Saturday, in the main against Glenwood with a few filler games played on the stagger against Howick. All of the A teams secured good wins, with the 1st XV securing a 37-25 victory much to the delight of the boys and supporters on Goldstones.
1st XV match report (Mr Nico Breedt, 1st XV coach)
After a heart-breaking last-minute defeat to Northwood in the last fixture, the Maritzburg College 1st XV were eager to get the season back on to a winning track.
The boys produced a performance to be extremely proud of as preparation has been challenging for all involved, with last minute injuries and lost training time due to lightning and severe rain in the week building up to the game. College showed that there is a lot of fight in them and were able to deliver with their backs to the wall and under huge pressure to secure their first victory of the 2025 season.
The first half was a very even contest with both teams scoring one converted try each and kicking two penalties, resulting in a half time score of 13-13.
The second half was a more polished performance by the College boys, scoring three beautiful tries to the two tries from Glenwood. College also very maturely kicked a penalty in front of the posts to solidify their lead at the time. Glenwood fought valiantly and scored their third try of the match in the last minutes, but it was too late, and College took the win 37-25.
Hockey
College’s hockey teams were on top form against Glenwood over the weekend, with the A teams playing under lights on Pape’s on Friday evening, and the rest of the teams on Saturday. The 1st XI secured a 1-0 win.
1st XI match report (Mr Mark Sanders, Director of Hockey and 1st XI coach)
The 1st XI game between Maritzburg College and Glenwood was delayed due to gridlocked traffic on the highway between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, but this did not deter the boys from Glenwood who played with drive and intent and never looked like giving up.
The game started with both teams trying to feel each other out. College started the stronger of the two, creating several opportunities resulting in a few penalty corners. The Glenwood defense stood firm led by their goalkeeper, and despite having must of the possessions, College found it difficult to play going forward through the Glenwood press. The first half ended 0-0.
A slight structural change for the College team saw them dismantle the press of Glenwood enabling them to ease through, creating more circle entries. A well worked move down the right- hand channel to get the ball to Siwaphiwe Sithembu just outside the circle, enabled him to enter the circle, taking a tomahawk shot and beating the Glenwood keeper on his near post. A wonderful goal by Siwa!
This sparked a desire by College to score again although they didn’t succeed. Glenwood were awarded a penalty corner in the final minute, and there was a hush around Pape’s to watch College’s short corner defense in action. As time ran out on the clock, Viwe Ndlovu, the College keeper, made a wonderful save handing College a well-deserved victory 1-0.
Compliments must go to Glenwood and the way in which they played, while College stayed to plan and executed some outstanding hockey.
Athletics
The College athletics team travelled to the University of Johannesburg for the National Final of the SuperSport track and field event. College represented KZN against the eight provincial winners and top five invited schools, finishing 7th overall, with one 1st and three 2nd places, thanks to outstanding performances by C Sweetnam, T Boshoff, E Bester and R Slade.
1st place: C Sweetnam Javelin under 17
2nd places: T Boshoff Shotput under 17; E Bester Javelin under 19; R Slade Shotput under 15.
Cycling
Faced with slippery and challenging conditions, the Maritzburg College cyclists did very well at two recent events. A the Karkloof SA Gravel Championship last week, Brynn Fourie placed 7th in the Open Men’s category. At the KZN XCO 1st Lap Race, in the Youth Men category, Cole Baxter was 4th and Diego Rencken 13th. In the Junior Men, Brynn Fourie finished 5th, Kayden Searle 7th, and Caden Wood 10th.
Shooting
Congratulations to College’s Niyal Naidoo who won silver in the Gauteng open in the men’s U20 10m Sporter category.
Table tennis
At the uMgungundlovu district tournament, three College boys; T Royappen, S Bandu and S Redlinghuis made the U18 semifinals. T Royappen progressed to the Finals and won. He is now ranked 1st in the district in the U18 age group. S Redlinghuis is ranked 3rd and S Bandu is ranked 4th.
