The Glenwood fixture list as published here Glenwood fixtures link on their website makes for interesting reading.
AFFIES
Amongst the big pluses is the return of the Affies game. In 2017 the plug was pulled on this fixture. No one from either side seemed prepared to comment on exactly what went wrong to result in the termination.
Over the years for some or other reason both Glenwood and Affies seemed to find the level of respect they willingly showed towards just about all other opponents on the rugby field much harder to come by when the two met. As a result there has been plenty of feeling in the matches between the two schools and a bit on the sidelines as well. Even though the annual fixture hadn’t yet evolved to a stage where it was recognised as one of the so-called traditional rivalries, there was little doubt that the eventfulness of the interschools weekend was building it up to eventually become a special clash, one from which many of the boys participating would take away fond memories and plenty of good stories to share when they were older and their rugby days were over.
Anyway the bottom-line is given the number of teams they field and the difficulties they are having finding suitable opponents to cater for this, Glenwood and Affies need each other right now and although the lower team outcomes are bound to be tilted in Affies’ favour, the compo amongst the A and B teams should be much tighter and of great benefit to both schools.
Affies put a halt to their fixture against KZN’s Westville to free up the slot in their second term programme, so a major change to this Glenwood-Affies derby is that it is not a third term fixture like it was for so many years.
MARITZBURG COLLEGE
Also making a (welcomed) return to Glenwood’s fixture list is the return match against Maritzburg College. This second match per season was scrapped a few years back due to popular College’s congested third term fixture list. However with College calling it quits on their annual interschools against Grey College (which had moved to March), it freed up a slot for Glenwood to step in. So like the Glenwood-Affies game, this return College derby match is not a third term game. Possibly unlike the Affies game too, this is definitely a match day for some serious competitive games amongst the lower teams and both schools are once again expected to field plenty of teams for the occasion.
MICHAELHOUSE
On the downside missing for a second year is the Michaelhouse game. It looks like this may become a permanent arrangement, meaning House joins Hilton and Northwood as KZN schools no longer willing to play Glenwood. Not much hype has been made of the decision but indications are that it was communicated with explanations by House.
5 TOURS
Perhaps the most distracting feature is the number of trips Glenwood are set to go on in 2018. Wildeklawer in Kimberley is an annual event. In addition to this the Green Machine has lined up a visit to Paarl in the Western Cape to join Boishaai in their 150th birthday celebration international festival. Then there are no fewer than three trips to the Noordvaal to play Affies, Monument and HTS Middelburg. The first two of those trips are in May, known for being the KZN Schools youth week trials month, and a period where Glenwood has slowed down their interschools activities over the past few seasons. Travel is both time consuming and costly, so it’s expected to either take quite a chunk out of the budget or the costs will have to be picked up by the parents or maybe both.
| SLOT | DATE | SCHOOL | SCHOOL | INFO | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat.24Mar | Maritzburg College | – | – | Glenwood | ||
| 3 | Thu.29Mar | Glenwood | – | – | Drostdy | |
| 4 | Sat.31Mar | Glenwood | – | – | Dale | |
| 1 | Mon.02Apr | Glenwood | – | – | Welkom Gim | |
| Tue.03Apr | Glenwood | – | – | TBA | ||
| Thu.05Apr | Glenwood | – | – | TBA | ||
| Sat.07Apr | Glenwood | – | – | TBA | ||
| Sat.14Apr | Westville | – | – | Glenwood | ||
| Sat.21Apr | Glenwood | – | – | Kearsney | ||
| 3 | Sat.28Apr | Stellenberg | – | – | Glenwood | |
| 5 | Mon.30Apr | Glenwood | – | – | Outeniqua | On Supersport |
| Sat.05May | Affies | – | – | Glenwood | ||
| Sat.12May | Glenwood | – | – | Menlopark | ||
| Sat.19May | Monument | – | – | Glenwood | ||
| Sat.26May | DHS | – | – | Glenwood | ||
| Sat.16Jun | Glenwood | – | – | Maritzburg College | ||
| Sat.21Jul | HTS Middelburg | – | – | Glenwood | ||
| Sat.04Aug | Glenwood | – | – | Grey College | ||
| Fri.10Aug | Glenwood | – | – | Waterkloof |
And his ? mine ???????
@beet: Send him my regards
Grasshopper has confirmed that Hilton and Glenwood did not play from 2007-2011. In 2006 Glenwood won 19-7.
@Van: Memory aid: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ArO-0n1CIAEczUa.jpg
@beet: Now I’m questioning my own memory of the game.
I do know that it was very close. Thom himself scored a great individual try.
@Van: Wait I looked back. Glenwood won 19-18 in 2012. I’m sure they didn’t play for about 5 years before 2012.
@Van:
My bad. It was 2012 at HC. And HC squeezed through against Westville as well and beat Kearsney too that year.
@beet: I beg to differ. I refereed that game. Thom dropped a pass in the Glenwood in goal area and a HC player fell on it and scored. Sean Erasmus, as he does, paced up and down the deadball line and went red with anger at the silly mistake. Was a close game, but HC pulled it through.
@Van: Westville have beaten Glenwood a couple of times during the last 10 years. One was the infamous Marnegate game on Bowdens.
Hilton has only played Glenwood twice in the last decade. Before this current ceasefire, Hilton and Glenwood actually had a different time-out of 5 or so years where they didn’t play each other. In those 2 games played, one was an outstanding contest that HC were in it to win it in the wet on Dixon’s, losing 21-9 but closer than the score suggests and the other was the dramatic day up at HC where a broken leg on Gilfillan amongst other injuries on the day really played on the emotional strings of the HC decision-makers, parents and other supporters. They lost 67-7 that day. There was no win or game during the Tom-era.
@beet: It is not impossible for the likes of House and HC to beat a Glenwood. The year of the infamous Siyabonga Thom HC actually beat Glenwood and Westville beat them in 2015. Having said that, it was probably the best side Ville produced since the unbeaten team a number of years back.
But as you say, both arguments have merit.
@Van: Agreed. Otherwise everyone will do is just carry on speculating about what the reasons are.
Kearsney has taken 2 serious klaps by Glenwood in recent years. Glenwood played out of their skins in both producing outstanding form but there wasn’t much joy for the losing team or spectators. However Kearsney also haven’t lost out on the chance to beat Glenwood as well, which has also happened a few times over the past few years. It works both ways I guess. I must say that after the big loss at the Durban Varsity field, I did feel that if the roles were reversed and Glenwood had to back their own Gr.8 players instead of relying on the high number of imports they had or if KC could have beefed up their team with 5 imports in key positions, the result would have been way different. So I suppose there is merit to both sides of the argument. Play or scrap.
Would be interesting to hear what the reasons communicated by House were.