Durban — Maritzburg College sent a strong message to their local rivals, with an emphatic victory over Pretoria Boys’ High School during their inter-school winter fixture. It was a great day for College’s Red, Black and White as they won 25 out of 29 games, which concluded with the first XV winning 43-15.
Rugby director Hendre Marnitz shared that the game against PBHS was a physical contest.
“They came out firing and had us under pressure. As the game went on, we got more into our game plan. We were able to get more width in our attack and score some beautiful tries. For the upcoming game against DHS, we’d like to clean up a few things and turn up with lots of energy, enthusiasm and make sure to execute our plan as we’re at home.”
Captain Phiwaynkosi Kubheka said: “I am very excited about our upcoming game against DHS but I am going into this game with the mindset of just doing what needs to be done. As a team, we can improve by executing every detail leading up to Saturday.”
First XV coach Tim Orchard said: “Fixtures against PBHS are always closely contested and the first team rugby match was no different.”
Orchard said the first half was a tightly fought battle.
The first try of the game was scored by Jake Jansen who, after a good piece of counter-attacking rugby, gifted College a penalty right, allowing them to use a set-piece move and grab the first try of the game.
PBHS hit back relatively quickly through a line-out variation, putting the score at 7-5. College hit back with Nkululeko Sithole barging his way over after a good passage of play from the home team. This put the score at 14-5 with twenty minutes left of the half. PBHS were the next to score through a penalty underneath the uprights, calmly slotted over, reducing the lead to just 6 points. College hit back again through another penalty move, this time Imivuyo Kemka scoring the try and catching the PBHS defence cold.
The try was converted, and the score stood at 21-8 with minutes remaining in the half. From the kick-off, a poor exit allowed PBHS to have a line-out in the College half which they accepted with glee as it allowed them to use their maul to good effect. College was adjudged to have infringed, and the ball was kicked out five metres from the College goal line with PBHS thundering over for the last score of the half putting the score at 21-15 at the half-time break.
The second half promised to be a tight affair with Boys High having their tales firmly up after scoring the final try of the half. College scored the first points through the boot of James Slevin who kicked over a penalty to extend the College lead to eleven points, putting the score at 24-15. College had the wind at their back and began to use it effectively, pinning their opponents deep within their half.
A split line-out by PBHS was quickly shifted to the wing to allow Reinhardt Jacobsz to score a smartly worked try in the left-hand corner. The conversion was kicked over, and College extended their lead to 31-15. After a good line-out drive, captain Phiwaynkosi Kubheka barged over to score, the try was converted, and College now had an unassailable lead at 38-15. More good play from College allowed Jacobsz to grab his second try of the match and take the score to 43-15.
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