Traditional KZN rugby powerhouse Maritzburg College and Westville clashed on Saturday up in Pietermaritzburg in the last of the interschool fixtures before the July Holidays. The perfect weather conditions and firm pitch meant that both sides would look to play an expansive game and give their dangerous backlines plenty of ball. Westville were in good form boasting a run of nine unbeaten games since their defeat to Outeniqua at the Kearsney Festival whilst College had stumbled recently at the hands of Hilton after a massive flu epidemic hit their school. Despite their good form, Goldstones has never been a happy hunting ground for Westville having only recorded one win in over twenty years.
The opening minutes of the game saw Maritzburg College control territory and possession but Westville’s defence held firm. A massive up and under by Westville’s fullback Snyman was not well handled by the College fullback Alexander and the visitors regained possession and attacked strongly down the right, culminating in the opening try to young lock Jordan Martin in the far right corner. The attempted conversion went wide and Westville led 5 – 0. Westville now clearly had momentum and they began to attack the college backs who looked especially vulnerable in the 10/12 channel. Centre Brad Ellse made a scintillating break through the College backline, drew the last defender and put his fellow centre Lindo Buthelezi in for a try to the right of the posts. Fullback Louis Snyman added the extra points to stretch the lead to 12 – 0 on the 10 minute mark , Soon afterwards Louis Snyman stretch their lead to 15 – 0 with a penalty.
With the visitors winning the breakdown contest, College began to give away penalties deep inside their own half. Westville turned down a kickable penalty option and kicked to the corner. College successfully stopped the attempted driving maul but when Westville spun the ball, McHardy out stepped the first two defenders and put Ellse in next to the poles for the visitors’ third try. Snyman kicked the conversion and added a further two penalties to the Highway team giving them a 28 – 0 lead at the break.
College are a proud team and it was inevitable that they would come out firing in the second half which was exactly the case. College won a penalty and a line out in the Westville 22 led to a strong rolling maul with the impressive College No 8 Darren Goodsen going over. Centre Marcel Coetzee’s conversion went wide but College now had their tails up and they went on the offensive. Once again Westville concede a penalty at the breakdown and College opted for touch. College won the lineout but their driving maul was stopped by Westville. College then spread the ball wide to the left and wing Banele Ngwenya beat the cover defence to score in the corner. The conversion went wide but the home team were scrapping their way back into the game.
The visitors weathered the College attack and slowly began to regain control of the match. Westville attacked off the back of a line out and the loose ball was picked up by Buthelezi who dived over to score his second try. Snyman converted to make it 34 – 10 to Westville.
Louis Snyman then kicked a long range penalty from the 50m to extend the visitors’ lead to 38 – 10. College lost their dangerous left wing, Banele Ngwenya who was sin binned for a dangerous tackle and Westville made good use of their numerical advantage. College were being forced to play from deep inside their 22m and a poor kick by them saw Reece McHardy field the ball on the halfway and he then split the College defence to run 40m and passed to Lindo Buthelezi who scored his hat trick, Snyman converted to extend his teams lead to 45 – 10.
Westville completed the scoring with a fine try by right wing Jason Wilks after a well executed cross kick from McHardy found his winger in the corner. Snyman missed the conversion and the final score read 50 – 10 to Westville. This win capped a fine season by the highways team who have remained unbeaten since thumping Framesby at the Kearsney Easter Festival and have notched up a ten match unbeaten run in the process. They have accounted for Hilton, Michaelhouse, DHS, Northwood , George Campbell, Port Natal , Richards Bay, KES ,Pretoria Boys High ,and Maritzburg College with the Kearsney match being rained out.
The final win of the season against College according to local pundits is the biggest defeat inflicted on College at Goldstones for 40 years.
The full set of results are as follows:
WBHS 1st XV 50 vs MC 1st XV 10
WBHS 2nd XV 13 vs MC 2nd XV 21
WBHS 3rd XV 23 vs MC 3rd XV 22
WBHS 4th XV 26 vs MC 4th XV 32
WBHS 5th XV 7 vs MC 5th XV 29
WBHS 6th XV 5 vs MC 6th XV 26
WBHS 7th XV 10 vs MC 7th XV 19
WBHS 16A 16 vs MC 16A 25
WBHS 16B 17 vs MC 16B 0
WBHS 16C 12 vs MC 16C 26
WBHS 16D 15 vs MC 16D 22
WBHS 15A 5 vs MC 15A 27
WBHS 15B 31 vs MC 15B 0
WBHS 15C 12 vs MC 15C 26
WBHS 15D 7 vs MC 15D 12
WBHS 15E 26 vs MC 15E 5
WBHS 14A 24 vs MC 14A 0
WBHS 14B 12 vs MC 14B 0
WBHS 14C 36 vs MC 14C 5
WBHS 14D 20 vs MC 14D 0
WBHS 14E 31 vs MC 14E 0