Sports News for Maritzburg College
Overview Sporting Achievements
Maritzburg College was proud to be a part of the St. Charles College 150th Old Boys’ Day with many of our rugby and hockey teams in action against Saints. College produced an excellent set of results against some tough competition with convincing wins. College’s soccer teams enjoyed a good week of fixtures, and the cycling, cross country, and canoeing teams produced some excellent results.
Congratulations to 5th former Matt Lock who competed in the Suzuki Ultra Sprint Triathlon in Sun City placing 3rd overall in the men, 2nd in the U19 category and 5th overall in a time of 1:18:22.
Hockey
College’s hockey teams enjoyed a great set of matches against local rival Saints on their 150th Old Boys Day. With fixtures on both Friday and Saturday, College recorded an excellent 14 wins from 17 matches, drawing one and losing just two, with a positive goal difference of 51.
1st XI report (1st XI coach and Hockey Director, Mr Mark Sanders)
Touted the Pietermaritzburg Derby, College would be hosted by St Charles on their 150th Reunion weekend. A wonderful atmosphere surrounded the St Charles turf.
The St Charles boys were fired up and came out of the blocks with a fierce mentality that College would need to manage and slow down in the first few minutes. With a series of high balls, College pushed St Charles back into their half keeping them at bay. Viwe Ndlovu, the College goalkeeper, made a few sharp saves in the first quarter to keep the scores level, before Liyema Sishi scored a counterattack goal to put College one nil up after the first break.
College maintained a high percentage of possession and territory, finding it easy to outlet and create several opportunities, before they scored a penalty corner through a well-directed flick from Dane Jackson taking the score to two nil.
The wind was slowly being knocked out of the St Charles sails as College scored a further two goals through fast paced counterattack as well as a controlled and measured build up pattern of play.
The result of five nil is testament to a solid performance from the Maritzburg College team. Every boy in the College team stood up to the challenge – congratulations on a well-deserved win.
Rugby
1st XV report (1st XV coach, Mr Nico Breedt)
The Maritzburg College rugby teams faced determined action from St. Charles over the weekend. St Charles were formidable opponents on their 150th Old Boys’ Day, but College was ready to rise to the occasion.
Against Saints, Maritzburg College played 10 matches, winning nine and losing only one – a reflection of their dominance and skill on the rugby field.
Overall, College played 25 matches, winning 19 and losing six.
Soccer
Soccer The past week saw College’s soccer teams take on local rivals Newton, Heritage Academy and Ixopo, as well as competing in the Wildey tournament.
Canoeing
It was a busy weekend for the College canoeing team who competed in both the SA Slalom Championships and the KZN SurfSki Championships. Congratulations to the boys who took the top three places in the U18 category at both events!
South African Slalom championships in Bethlehem
U18
Scott Venniker 1st James Gotte 2nd Joshua Craig 3rd
KZN Surfski championships – Tiffany’s to Blythdale
U18
Keegan Vogt 1st Luke O’Connor 2nd
Jayden JvRensburg 3rd
Cross Country
The College athletes took part in the first cross country race of the season at Treverton in very muddy conditions, placing second overall.
Summary of results:
Juniors
J Wilson 2nd
C Markham 8th N Msimang 9th D Davies 11th
Senior Boys L Makhobo 1st I Ishmail 19th
Cycling
Competing in very challenging conditions at the KZN XCO Lap Race #2 the College cyclists did very well on a tough course.
Summary of results:
Youth Men:
Cole Baxter 9th Diego Rencken 12th
Junior Men: Kayden Searle 2nd Brynn Fourie 7th Caden Wood 9th