Bowden’s Field was the setting for the closely contested 11-6 victory by the hosts Westville over their Midlands visitors Hilton College. In the end the result boiled down to Westville taking their one golden opportunity and turning it into a 5-pointer midway through the second half, after Hilton had earlier in the half let an almost certain try slip through their fingers.
The match got off to a fast paced and intense start. Although the defensive intensity was there throughout the 70-minutes, early-season jitters played its part as well in helping to keep the score low as both teams struggled to really get their offensive games going properly. There was a fair bit of kicking out of hand and not enough ball-in-hand line-breaking challenges.
Hilton has the overall team potential to go on and have a very successful season in spite of this setback. They however have to correct their lineout weakness in a hurry. It was probably the biggest eye-sore of their game, in a match that seemed to produce a high number of lineouts. One dimensional and unassertive best describes their setpiece. Throughout the match flank Nkanyiso Nzimande the primary target either towards the middle or at the tail of the lineout, but it was all so predictable that the athletic Westville jumpers were often able to spoil things, destroying Hilton’s platforms for launching attacks in the process.
With regards to the visitors there were however things to smile about as well. In the 11th minute, Hilton forwards and backs combined to produce the best attacking passage of the game. Wing Darren McGhee and prop Sakhile Nyembezi had the meaningful ground gaining carries but the energy of the play was centred around excellent continuity achieved through first rate teamwork to recycle the ball and channel it through various sets of the hands. The execution deserved to have been rewarded with points of some sort. A knock-on ended the possibility of a try when the Midlands boys were in the redzone and even the call back for a penalty shot at goal earned during the move as the result of an under pressure infringement by Westville, was missed by flyhalf Daniel Hirschowitz.
Hirschowitz would account for all of his team’s points with penalties either side of halftime.
In the second half, Hilton should have scored what possibly would have been the winning try. It followed on from one of number of penalties awarded at scrum-time. Hilton used the penalty to gain a bit of territorial relief by kicking for touch. Ironically the poor functioning lineout then became the impetus for attack as Nzimande claimed the throw and Hilton set up a big ground gaining rolling maul. Under a penalty advantage condition, the visitors continued to press by spreading the ball to the right, further disorganising the home team’s defence in the process. Finally it was Hilton’s two best players on the day scrumhalf/captain Matthew Dahl and no.8 Sebastian Desvaux de Merigny who combined with brilliant timing to open up a path to the tryline. Just metres from the line, a last defender approached from the broad-shouldered No.8’s right. Although De Merigny had by then generated enough momentum to continue on a straight-line path to get to the line, he chose to respond to the threat by checking his line, beating the now off-balance player on the outside and crossing the tryline for what appeared to be a well worked Hilton try. Celebrations in the crowd ended when they realised what had happened.In the process of going over for the try, the ball had been dislodged by an outstretched Westville arm and the ref duly awarded the turnover to the home team.
Even in the injury enforced absence of a key player Fudge Qoma, Westville’s tight forwards continued to impress.It’s early days still but props Jordan Els and Shaun Stoltz already look like the frontrunners for Craven Week caps in their respective positions. Under-17 players made up the balance of the tight-5 and they too had their moments to shine during this match. In spite of this ability to get on top in the battle of the pack, Westville still haven’t found a way yet to extract maximum advantage from these forward dominating phases which should be a huge concern to their coaching staff. Their ability to recycle quick front-foot ball and deliver continuity on attack should be far better.
Westville’s most dangerous attacker is their in-form fullback and captain Shane Ball. The few times when he got the chance to be involved in play, there are usually benefits. He won a kicking duel to hand his team a good field position from which Els later showed surprising pace for a 120kg plus prop as he made 20m before Westville won a penalty at the breakdown and centre Niel van Rooyen kicked the 3-pointer from an acute angle. Later in the first half van Rooyen missed a shot but made up for it with his second success, again stemming indirectly from Ball’s involvement in a line move during which he beat a defender after cutting inside, kicked ahead, chased, put himself in a position to claim a lucky bounce, that didn’t come off but which placed Hilton under tremendous pressure near their own tryline, a territorial disadvantage from which they were not able to properly recover. Still within van Rooyen’s range, Hilton soon gave away a penalty at the scrum, resulting in the 6-3 lead that Westville took into the break.
Shortly after halftime, the scores were levelled at 6-6.
The winning try started in the same manner as Hilton’s missed opportunity to score. A scrum penalty allowed Westville to set up an attacking lineout on the Hilton 22m. Hilton’s Nzimande timed his jump well and slapped the ball back to his team’s side of the lineout. It should have been a key turnover but the unkind high bounce saw the ever-keen Westville youngster Zane Heyneke running through, holding onto a difficult to gather ball above his head and charging towards the tryline. He was brought down deep in the redzone but the lock had done the damage. Quickball followed and big Els as final recipient on the right wing powered his way over in the right-hand corner. It had been Westville’s first and only visit to the Hilton 22m area in the entire half and they made it count.
There was still plenty of time left on the clock after the try. Hilton were unable to capitalise on a few chances including wing Nic Brown’s one where he came close to intercepting a pass.
The final score 11-6 to Westville in a physically demanding game.
Even though there is still a lot of rugby to come, this outcome could prove to be one of the most significant results of the KZN season, particularly if both teams improve to play at to the potential they are both capable of achieving.
Teams:
| Westville | Hilton | |
|---|---|---|
| Jordan Els | 1 | Sakhile Nyembezi |
| Hendrik Prinsloo | 2 | Matt MacKenzie |
| Shaun Stoltz | 3 | Adam Holdcroft |
| Zane Heyneke | 4 | Jean Nel |
| JP Pelzer | 5 | Matt Swan |
| Donovan Grant | 6 | Nkanyiso Nzimande |
| Devon Muller | 7 | Nicholas Lello |
| Keegan Nicholson | 8 | Sebastian Desvaux de Merigny |
| Bryce Kitching | 9 | Matt Dahl |
| Craig Schlemmer | 10 | Daniel Hirschowitz |
| Neil Van Rooyen | 11 | Darren McGhee |
| Mpilo Shange | 12 | Keaton Bottriell |
| James Wheeler | 13 | Daniel Loftus |
| Tony Mahlangu | 14 | Nic Brown |
| Shane Ball (C) | 15 | Cameron Badenhorst |
Thanks guys
Much appreciated. But also big thanks to the school boys and schools for putting on such good entertainment packages
@star: +1 on beets reports.
@beet:Thanks. Must be the mothers genes. Comes from a long line of No 8s
Needs work on fitness and conditioning. The cricketers will always be slightly behind the 8 ball I am afraid. 
@ Boertjie- Beet’s reports are legendary. I have been enjoying them since the Rugby 365 days. One of the reasons this blog is such a success.
@star: Haha Star.
I wanted to mention that was very impressed by your son’s play on Saturday particularly his ball handling skills but also his positional play and ability to read the game. It was a pleasure to watch him in action.
@star:The Witness today(17/03) have plagiarised the above match report on this game. Must be due to the quality of the report..
@beet: Apparently not a new thing . However it was more exaggerated than normal hence the fact it was picked up by your keen and observant persona.
@beet: You are more observant than me. I didn’t even notice. I don’t have an “insider” any longer so maybe star can find out.
@Westers: Is the Westville wooden stands crescent formation a new thing or was Saturday just the first time I noticed it?
@Westers:
Yip – said the same thing about Prinsloo last year. His throwing is definitely his weak point. Quite an easy one to sort out with coaching and hours of practice.
Wow – this is certainly looking like a SBR season in KZN that no game is going to be a “gimmie” – some good rugger ahead mehopes.
A good report. Hilton were unlucky to lose this game. The ball dropped over the line was a game changer IMHO. Well done to the Westville defense.
Westville still have a lot of work to do. Their lineout work was not great. The hooker is great in the loose but needs to work on his lineout throwing. They had a similar problem last year.
This Hilton side will be no walkovers this year. They may be sorry they are giving Glenwood a miss this year.
@Rugger fan: Yes the u16As proved to be a good bounce back for Tony Richter who had occupied himself with u15B coaching before.
Hilton had to come from behind to win the game. Their well-built centre proved to be instrumental
Thanks for the report – looks like Ville had a good outing – only losing the U16A match – I believe all other fixtures went in Ville’s favour?