Right wing, Juan Anderson in action
Saturday was a treat for sports lovers who witnessed the annual rugby and hockey derby between Westville and Kearsney.
With last year’s fixtures rained out, the large crowd were looking forward to the renewal of friendly yet fiercely contested rivalry between the two schools on the rugby and hockey fields. The day turned out to be a scorcher, both in terms of the weather and in terms of the intensity of the competition, with the teams from both schools giving it their all.
On the hockey field, Westville continued where they left off the previous week against Glenwood, losing only 3 out of 13 fixtures and drawing the 1st team game with Kearsney. In a tight and closely contested match, neither first team really had the ascendency and a 2-2 result was probably a fair reflection of the game.
On the rugby field, Westville sides won the majority of the games, winning 5 of the 6 open team games and only losing one of the U15 matches.
The first team game proved to be an absolute “humdinger” with Westville enjoying most of the possession, but failing to effectively breach Kearsney’s resolute defence.
Apart from a lone try from Kearsney’s scrumhalf, James Hall, the rest of the points for both sides came via penalties. With less than two minutes to go to the final whistle, Westville flyhalf, Kyan Braithwaite slotted a penalty to give Westville a 12-10 lead and it looked as though the game was over for Kearsney.
From the ensuing kick-off and with no time left on the clock, Westville “snatched defeat from the jaws of victory” by attempting to run the ball instead of kicking in to touch.
Braithwaite was caught in possession and adjudicated to have hung on to the ball after going to ground. Kearsney’s flyhalf, Tristan Tedder, then kicked a successful penalty to give the hosts a victory they could not have imagined a minute earlier.
Final score: Kearsney 13 – Westville 12.
Click here for all the hockey results
Click here for all the rugby results