Westville alumni got to celebrate Old Boys’ Day in style when their school’s 1st XV produced one of their better performances of a rollercoaster ride season and beat Highways rivals Kearsney 24-17.
The match got off to a slow tempo start. A lot of handling errors and kicking out of hand meant there wasn’t much by way of constructive rugby being played.
It felt like the punts were travelling further through the air than customary for a match close to sea-level. From one such long kick in behind the back three by Westville fullback Shane Ball, the Kearsney wing allowed himself caught in possession inside his own 22m area and conceded a penalty. Westville flyhalf Niel van Rooyen who turned out to be one of his team’s heroes on the day, continued his good kicking-tee form to make it 3-0 after 13 minutes.
Kearsney responded with a James Tedder penalty in the 19th minute to level matters at 3-3.
The 24th minute produced a wonderful try for Westville left wing James Wheeler. The architect was centre Brogan Boulle, who’s line-break and timeous offload provided the room for his powerful and pacy wing to collect and then round the last defender on the outside. Van Rooyen converted making it 10-3.
A notable aspect of the game was Kearsney’s decision not to take kickable penalties in order to pursuit 5-pointers. In the lead up to halftime, two separate visits to the 22m could have earned the visiting team 6-points from kicks. Instead Westville due to their outstanding commitment to goal-line defence and their ascendency in the scrums which earned a crucial tighthead, ensured that Kearsney went into the break without an advancement on the scoreboard.
Kearsney’s creative scrumhalf Brendan Vorster was a real livewire thoughout the game and his 60-metre run in which he formed his own opening by confusing the defence with a trademark diagonal dart, proved to be one of the highlights of the half.
Soon after halftime, a high tackle by the visitors allowed Niel van Rooyen to extend the lead to 13-3.
A few minutes late it was Kearsney’s turn to halt a series of promising redzone attacks in which Ville “Mr Consistency”, flank Devon Muller was prominent in surges at the line. The memorable moment of the passage came when Ville had forced Kearsney to commit to the breakdown and recycled quickball but with an overlap to the left, the pass went to big bashing tighthead prop Melusi Mtabela, who sought contact down the middle when a try was on if the ball continued to go wide.
Kearsney once again turned down a shot at goal in favour of a quick tap in the 44th minute. Backs Mitchell Nesbit, Cameron Ritchie and James Tedder all came close to scoring but were met by the same stubborn Westville resistance. The One-Stripe’s closest effort was held up over the line.
The young Kearsney prop Greg van Noordwyk had a couple of useful carries and his work combined with that of flyhalf Ritchie helped centre James Tedder to find the right line and break through to score a try which the latter goaled as well, reducing it to 13-10 to Westville after 47 minutes.
The 53rd minute proved to be a decisive one for Westville. Brogan Boulle, occasionally guilty crashballing when offloading looks the better option, got it right when he backed his strength in contact and stayed on his feet not once but twice against would-be tacklers and scored very good try on the left, making it 18-10.
Westville wing Tonny Mahlangu added to the excitement of the half with an excellent run down the middle almost straight after the kickoff.
Two more Westville penalties followed in minutes 59 and 65, taking van Rooyen’s personal tally up to 14 points. At 24-10, the game looked in the bag for Westville.
Kearsney had been putting in strong finishes in KZN inter-schools matches this season. They continued in that vein. Captain at flank Tristan Dixon used his size and power to barge over in the 68rd minute. James Tedder who had made a good run through traffic in the lead up to the try, added the extras, to leave his team trailing 24-17.
A last minute lineout steal gave Kearsney one last attacking chance. Spearheaded by Tedder and Ritchie, the visitors got into a good field position but Westville spurred on by their loud old boys corner produced one last meaningful defensive play to make the ball unplayable in a maul and win the game.
It was a very pleasing all-round team effort by the Westville players. The win will no doubt be a great confidence boost to a Griffons side with a lot of potential. For his two vital contributions via an assist and a self-made try Brogan Boulle had to be the player of the match.
@McCulleys Workshop: ha ha , that’s better ….some humour !!
@oldschool: No, I am Japanese and just adopted them because I like their colours.
@Westers: Either you are to young , to niave or over sensitive to find the humour in my comment , its tongue in cheek my boy , just have laugh and come back with something witty about Private school ponces etc …..
@McCulleys Workshop: relax tough guy , its a bit of humour …. if you had any mates from Westville you would understand that there is long standing banter between the 2 schools , Kearsney perceived to being ‘Lahnie okes’ and the Ville boys being the ‘Werkers’ ….ironic , a comment coming from a MHS oke stating ‘arrogant tossers’ and ‘wealthy knobs’ …haven’t you been up to MHS recently ?
@GreenBlooded: Wasn’t even a legal tackle, high, no arms. No evidence of post match citing
@oldschool:
Nothing new. You need to expect that sort of thing at Westville. Last year at the College match, one of them ran on and tackled a College player before the kickoff.
@Westers: Howzit Westers, where have you been hiding?
The comment above relates to wealthy Knobs thinking they are in the position to employ perceived commoners – Some people will always be arrogant tossers
@oldschool: I don’t get the CV bit.
@Side Line View: I never saw the incident but it is totally unacceptable. I hope the Westville authorities keep an eye on this going forward.
@Side Line View: it is quite an intimidating corner there at Bowdens , with the young old boys of the Ville all juiced up ! instead of throwing bottles at the KC lads they should rather bring their CVs and throw them at the KC boys !!
As a Kearsney supporter I believed Westville deserved to win on the day, was just somewhat disappointed when witnessing an empty bottle being thrown at the Kearsney boys walking past the Westville old boys stand. We try very hard to get our boys to try hard but to accept defeat, be nice if the supporters supported this.
@Pedantic: You are a gentleman!!
@GreenBlooded: Bwwaaahhhahahah
@Rugger fan:
Then how do you explain her marrying star???
@Pedantic: Too humble Pedantic – I reckon Star’s wife knows quality when she see’s it!
@star: Hahaha, it must have been my gentlemanly demeanor during introductions at the KERF beer tent that swung it
Lucky that was early in the day 
@GreenBlooded: Should invite the clown to hold some tackle shields at the U14D training session – bet he would crap himself.
@McCulleys Workshop: Always keen for a good sample
Does that mean I have to support K this weekend? I do not think there is anything sinister in the fact that Westville and House are not playing( although you can imagine how disappointed I am 
). Westville have picked up Jeppe and Affies and that presumably put pressure on an already stressed timetable. Whether they pushed it to the nth degree I do not know. I do feel that a win for House on Bowdens where they have not won since Lambie and Co in 2007, would have given a little more mustard to the House pretentions this year.
@ Pedantic-my wife has been reading your posts and is of the opinion that you are a gracious gentleman. I did not want to disillusion or disappoint.
@ Buffel- coming down to the wire on Gillies. I will be on golf tour this W/E but keep the positive vibes going as only you can
@GreenBlooded: He is such a plonker! Where did he school?
Heard that infantile idiot Darren Maule on the radio this morning sticking it to Kearsney. “How would you like to be a Kearsney Boy this morning – 0/22 blah blah blah”. Bet the {sharp point} never played a game in his life.
@Pedantic:
U16a – yes – Ville are a good side – but were comfortably beaten by college on Bowdens – will be interesting to see how KC/MC U16 pans out this weekend – as MC have not been having a great season to date. They need to click soon!
This really was a good win for Westville – the guys dug deep and were never going to give it away.
The surprising result for me was the U16A – think that result could be considered a bit of an upset?
@Pedantic: It was only a safe bet depending on the outcome of the 1st game, which by the sounds of it could have ended either way.
@McCulleys Workshop: Kinda win win for you at the moment
Can’t complain – I lost the first leg of the bet
@star: What was the exact reason for WBHS and MHS not playing this year, if I remember correctly it was a date issue?
My bet with @pedantic comes down to this weekend, if College beat Kearsney, I’m in the amber, if College lose, we split the spoils and include you in the sampling.
@Rugger fan: There is an old saying that the more things change the more they stay the same. This age group as U16s also had a topsy turvy season. What has always interested me about House is how they are able to develop over the age groups.As U16s against Westville it was the Bader show. He scored 2 quick tries and kicked the final winning kick. Westville dominated the set pieces and House lived off scraps at ruck time. Suddenly they have a first class tight five. There must be something in the midlands water that needs to be bottled.
A fair result in the end- well done Westville. Now for College at home. Still a stern challenge .
@star: One down , one to go. KC have to beat Hilton by 8 for me to take home the beers-going to be tough.
See you at Westville this coming weekend.
Well done Ville -I really thought the one stripes were going to break the OB day blues and pull a victory out the bag. Well done and the topsy turvy results this season continue.
Seems only House have a quiet little run out of the limelight up in the Midlands with a consistent set of performances.
@Bonthuis: Yes Played 21 won 21.( and I am including the 2 fillers against College which I thought would give KES the winning feeling and propel them to victory in the Hollow) You must not underestimate the impact of OB day. The one minute I am about to take my boy to hospital to check out the shoulder and next I see him on the line in those desperate last minutes. They just will not be denied. It will definitely be a challenge against DHS, GW and College on their Reunion days.
@ Beet- the good news for Westville is that Brogan is still in grade 10.
If I’m not mistaken Westville won every fixture, amazing set of results after a very inconsistent season so far…