Overview Sporting Achievements

During the Wildeklawer Festival, College’s premier rugby squads faced off against formidable opponents from across the nation. Meanwhile, the remaining rugby teams went head-to-head with Howick and St Charles. On Friday, College’s hockey teams engaged in a complete series of matches against the Saints, clinching an impressive 13 victories out of 16 encounters, with two draws and only one defeat

The 1^st soccer team also headed to Wildeklawer where they were successful in reaching the top 6. There was also plenty of excellent canoeing and cycling action.

Hockey

College’s hockey teams took on the Saints for a full round of games ending with the 1^st XI teams meeting on Pape’s under lights on Friday evening.

1st XI match report (Mr Kyle Emerson, 1st XI coach)

St Charles visited Pape’s on a Friday night, with a late push back, and another match under lights was enjoyed by the spectators. The first quarter saw College dominate possession and territory as St Charles soaked up lots of pressure and sat deep in their half. College created a few early chances and penalty corners which were well run down by the first wave from St Charles. Unable to get a shot on target until the 6^th minute, but it was this chance that allowed College to take the lead. Kadin Jenkins found Banele Dlamini in the circle whose backhand shot was saved by the goalkeeper, but the ball bounced up into the path of Julian Konigkramer who calmly put the ball into the goal.

College accumulated circle entries but couldn’t find their second goal until a good build up allowed Siwa Sithembu to enter the circle on the right side and push the ball to far post. He was looking for a teammate, but it somehow trickled past everyone and into the bottom corner.

In the second half, St Charles were more organised in defence and didn’t allow College to enter their circle as easily. The best chance of the half came in the 3^rd quarter when Dlamini turned over the captain and centre back of St Charles on the halfway. He ran the length of the field and pulled the ball passed the goalkeeper to shoot and was slid in the tackle which earned the team a stroke. The goalkeeper made up for his mistake and made a good diving save to keep the score at 2-0.

The rest of the game was quite messy, with many unforced errors and less structured play. St Charles managed to get a goal with eight minutes left in the game, after a turnover deep in the half saw a striker run the length of the field on the outside, and after a scramble in the 9-yard area, the

St Charles striker struck the ball in. It created a nervy finish, but College never felt like the result was in doubt.

College were not effective enough at keeping possession in the second half to build momentum and create enough meaningful opportunities to put the game out of reach of St Charles. Credit to St Charles for playing with an intensity and an ability to deny the chances which College did create. The final score was 2-1 to College.

Summary of results

Soccer

The Maritzburg College 1st XI put in some memorable performances in a strong showing at this year’s ABSA Wildeklawer Football Tournament with some of the best of the best teams in the country competing for top spot.

The team placed 5th overall from the 20 schools competing, and their loss to Clapham High School was their first defeat this season.

They resume their KZN Inland League campaign with the local derby versus Alex at College on Thursday at 3pm.

Summary of results:

Group Stage:

vs Northwood, won 2-1. vs Blinkklip, won 2-1.

vs Clapham, drew 0-0.

Round of 12 knockout

vs Emmang Mmogo, drew 0-0, (won 5-4 on penalties.)

Round of 6 knockout

vs Clapham, lost 3-2.

Rugby

College fielded 12 local teams on Saturday against St Charles College and Howick. It was an honour to be invited to Howick as part of their Founders Weekend celebrations. College won 11 of their games, with the 5^th XV earning a hard-fought win against the Howick 1^st team.

Summary of results against St Charles and Howick

College’s A team were proud to be invited to take part in the Absa Wildeklawer Festival against some of the top rugby schools in the country. Despite gutsy and never-say-die performances and some close scores, College was not able to bring home a win in their eight games.

YouTube clip of the game highlights.

1^st XV match reports (Wildeklawer) (Mr Tim Orchard, 1^st XV coach)

Summary of results at Wildeklawer

Canoeing

Well done to the College canoeists who secured two first place finishes at the Marathon Practise series over the weekend.

U14

Keigan Clarke 1st

U16

Josh Worthman 1st

There were also excellent results at the Dolphin Coast Winter series. U16

Keegan Vogt 1st and 7th overall Josh Worthman 2nd

U18

Jayden jvRensburg 2nd Luke O’Connor 3rd

College had several boys selected for both the KZN A and B teams at the SA Canoe Polo Championships this weekend.

KZN A team

Matthew Van Heerden Jack Odell

James Gotte Scott Venniker

The KZN U18A team finished 5th overall and 2nd in the U21 category.

KZN B team Simon Norton David Botha Joshua Craig Matthew Rawson Michaelhouse Craig Cribbins

KZN U18B team finished 7th overall and 4th in the U21 category.

Cycling

The Maritzburg College cyclists competed in the both the Paarl XCC and XCO races as well as the New Hanover race over the weekend.

Paarl XCC

Junior Men

Luke Newlands 17th Cole Sellick 27th

Paarl XCO

Junior Men

Luke Newlands 13th Cole Sellick 23rd

New Hanover 45km race:

Junior Men

Michael Jewaskiewitz 1st Gabriel Jordan 4th

Youth Men

Kayden Searle 2nd Daniel Janneker 7th

New Hanover 65km

Kaden Leonard completed

Sports report sent by Maritzburg College

Hockey Results from around the country