Northwood had to come from 6-0 down at half time to edge out George Campbell 10-6 in the first major clash of this year’s Damelin Night Series at Port Natal. The match may not have been everyone’s cup of tea due to the number of unforced errors committed but in the context of it still being the first week of February and just the second competitive game of the season for both teams following relatively easy first round matches last week, the match provided good spectator entertainment and an opportunity to gather a lot of meaningful intel on the teams. Amongst the biggest improvements on last year is the conditioning of the players. The speed at which they attempt to play is also impressive and team tactics appear to be a lot more clearly defined now as well. Based on the preseason hype, Northwood was expected to walk this one. George Campbell clearly had their own minds made up about who was going to win the game and played the more purposeful and attractive rugby without enjoying the spoils at the end. When the final whistle sounded Campbell had every right to feel disappointed with the result. On the balance of play they were the better team. It’s all about getting points on the scoreboard though. Campbell missed four kickable shots at goal during the game and turned down a couple of other convertible opportunities in the hopes of getting 5-pointers. The interchanges amongst the Campbell backs was really good again. There produced flashy bits as well, led by captain and inside centre Mondi Nkosi, who has to be a lead contender for best stepper in KZN Tier-1 this year. Another highlight of theirs was when scrumhalf Devon Koekemoer pushed a perfectly weighted low kick over the top of the ruck and into a space for right winger Keaton Nathan to run onto. At the crucial moment the ball refused to sit up for the pacy wing otherwise he would have been home and dry. Northwood struggled for continuity for most of the match. Handling knock-ons and losing the ball in contact accounted for many turnovers. Much of this came down to the defensive pressure applied by Campbell and early season jitters. It was nevertheless the high penalty count against them that must of hurt most of all and which will no doubt be a focal point during training for the rest of this week. In the end congratulations must go to Northwood though. Each team had at least three realistic try-scoring opportunities during the game. Northwood’s second best chance came after the hooter in the first half and from their best passage of play. They showed just what a good side they are capable of being when they retained possession and went through the phases, only just losing out to an eventual knock-on on the Campbell tryline. 10 minutes into the second half, Northwood applied more pressure after catching an opponent in possession. They pressed on and got into the red zone. Here they were award the feed to an attacking scrum which opened up the width of the field to their left. A quick pick up at the base and good speed from that point onwards, saw inside centre Davidos Taujauskas make the decisive line-break and offload to his crash centre partner Thabo Thabete who went over under the sticks. Fullback Sassa Makhanya added the conversion and later on a penalty after time was up to complete the scoring. The number-15 would have also cruised in for a brilliant intercept try somewhere in between these two scores, had the referee not called play back due to an offside infringement earlier in the move.
The 20h00 main game on Friday sees log leaders Port Natal, with two wins out of two including a very impressive 57-0 blanking of Port Shepstone, taking on George Campbell. George Campbell needs to win that game in order to keep their hopes of a place in the final alive. Pinetown beat Durban Development 24-0 on Tuesday and the Highways team plays Northwood next at 19h00 on Friday. Port Shepstone and Durban Development square off at 18h00 in the first of the 1St XV games of the evening.
Northwood (0) 10
Try: Thabo Thabete
Conv: Sassa Makhanye
Pen: Sassa Makhanya
George Campbell (6) 6
Pen: Mondli Nkosi (2)
Just for interest these are the placings of the last gala that DHS won:
Top 10 gala:
DHS A 242
Westville A 231
Clifton 194
Kearsney 169
Hilton 130
College 128
Glenwood 114
MHS 77
Noorthwood 71
George Campbell 53
The good ol’ days indeed!!!
@Grasshopper:
Its not exactly stated but its derived from the happenings of the past week.
Last week the site said that DHS had a free weekend where they were supposed to play GWD and now they have fixtures and even some times. Great stuff!
@Horsie, good news that. I knew it would be sorted
Where on the DHS site does it state it though?
Well done to DHS and Glenwood for getting over their fued. Fixtures are back on as per DHS website.
Now time for Westville and GWD to do the same. Come on boys, you can do it!
School swimming is very different to club swimming. At club it is an individual sport. At school it is all 4 man relays. So to have a strong school swimming squad you need 4 good swimmers in every stroke. Sometimes the margins between 1st and 5th are less than 2 seconds (over 200m). This means that 1 mediocre swimmer can undo the work of 3 great swimmers very easily. This is why Westville are so strong – they have 4 VERY good swimmers in each stroke. The Glenwood U14’s are in the same position now. Contrast this with the teams who have 1 or 2 stars and 2 other to make up the numbers and you very quickly see the results.
@star:
yah hey, you win some and you lose some. The Charlies do have a good cricket team though, don’t underestimate them. They even beat a good Kearsney team by 6 wickets!
If your order has DHS on top then keep it as is at least for now
@ Horsy- I have suddenly noticed the DHS U16A lost to St Charles in cricket. What the……
I think I will have to rethink the pecking order 
Well done to Chad Ho on becoming the first swimmer in the history of the Midmar mile to win 4 times. The fact that he is a WOB added to Chad Le Clos and Oscar Chalupskis performamces from last year makes me a very proud OB indeed. The red wine has suddenly become a lot smoother. Well done to all the other swimmers in all the categories(and from all SCHOOLS) for their fine achievements.
Chad Ho wins 4th mile while 14 year old Clifton boy Matthew Meyer comes fifth. Well done !!!
@star:
Have no idea. Think that’ll be sorted today, I only have yesterdays results
@ H/F1- Do you know who won the school award? Can Westville add to its 17 years?
Well done to DHS boy Reegan Tait for winning the individual event at Midmar yesterday.
Sorry- Should read does NOT shy away from the big hit.
@ Griffon- I have been told there is a practice rugby match against MC on Friday. I believe there are 4 potential starters for Westville that also play Ist team cricket and therefore there is a bit of a conflict( especially in view of the fact that there is the T20 National final on the 22nd) We surely do not want any unnecessary injuries. Tough call for boys that love both sports. I have also heard that Prinsloo might play blindside flank which would open the lock position for Martin. Is Pieters injured? We need his dog in the team as he does shy away from the big hit. Wilks will be an able replacement. If not there then at 12 . He can fight it out with Anderson and P.
@Griffon:
Well done to him, a Glenwood boy whom Westville are still scratching their heads on how they lost out on him
I see Rueben Schoeman, won the u13 Midmar Section
@star:
Your U15s are under pressure. Every article I’ve read and every race I’ve seen they’ve JUST been able to win. On saturday Clifton,DHS and to an extent Glenwood caused them huge trouble! Glenwood team has Bargate who’s almost 2 seconds ahead of the 2nd guy but not much after that.
Most of the DHS guys in U15 don’t swim club due to almost all of them playing A team in other sports too but they are quite good.
Guys like Hamilton,Paul,Mngadi,Mehta,Packham don’t do club while Smal ant Tait do. Good swimmers nonetheless.I stand to be corrected but they’ve already gotten the better of Westville once or twice this year…
@ Star : Yes, its an ex Kearsney boy. He scored the winning 4 off the last ball
@ Horsy- I think it was you that said our U15s were under pressure. But surely with Le Clos,Sates, Musgrave and Van Staden in the team they should be able to kick on . I also believe that Kearsney were bowled out for 38 against Hilton who are a very useful side this year. Of interest is that an ex Kearsney boy won the man of the match award for Westville at the T20 provincial final at Kingsmead.
http://www.saschoolsports.co.za/swimming/kwazulu-natal/records-tumble-as-westville-boys-win-ip-gala.html
Look at the Glenwood placing 3 years ago and look Friday. Exact same gala but Glenwood up 3 places in a couple years. Well done green people
@Grasshopper:
Luke Erwee at Chelsea Prep and Dante Nortje at Westville Senior Primary School
@Grasshopper:
Haha 2nd best, Waterborn are most def the best club.
Yah but the whole no.1 swim school in SA thing doesn’t draw swimmers like it does in rugby.
DHS are improving drastically in polo and with that Swimming will improve like its done at Clifton.
Yep, Westville’s trump hard is Chad Le Clos and Graham Hill…..for a swimmer and easy choice really, unless their parents are Old Boys somewhere else and loyal to their alma mater’s. La Marque at Glenwood is a draw card as is Alan Burt at DHS. Westville have another trump card, the best swimming club in the country about a k away…
@Grasshopper:
Westville do have a great B team though so their depth is amazing.
But you are right about the whole 10 swimmers thing though.
Very hard to get those 10 though, especially with everyone offering the exact same thing!
@Horsie, probably right. With swimming as I have said before you need about 10 top swimmers and you have a dominant team. That is exactly what Westville have at the moment, spread those 10 amongst other schools and the picture is very different. It’s a sport that can be improved drastically with only a few bursaries and acquisitions……far easier than trying to get 60 top rugga players across the age groups
@Grasshopper:
Westville would easily win. They have almost the whole SA Schools team in their arsenal with DHS,College,Kearsney and Glenwood having one or two SA Swimmers each.
Looking at the results what is surprising is how weak the JHB schools are, KES came 8th, Parktown 10th, St Stithians 6th & St Davids’ 7th. Maybe the travelling took it’s toll or home ground advantage but KZN rule in the pool. Would be good to see Westville vs the best in the Cape, probably Rondebosch..
@Grasshopper:
Chads boet, Jordan, is in the Westville U15 team and so is Tim Sates and Clayton van Staden. Jacques Smal at DHS while KZN no.1 K.Bargate at Glenwood.
http://www.westvillesc.co.za/my_times.php#
DHS U14 team without a single recognized swimmer whilst the other age-groups have at least one.
U15-J.Smal
U16-J.Petersen
U17-C.Coleman
U19-T.Rambalee
@Griffon, he seems to be the next big thing! What about Chad Le Clos’s boet, Westville Under16’s? Where do Erwee and Nortje go?
@ Grasshopper : Musgrave’s in the Westville u15 team.
@HORSEFLY NO.1: Don’t forget about the Viljoen twins in our U14.
Thanks Horsie, looks like Luke Erwee and Dante Nortje are other up and coming junior swimmers. Where does Bailey Musgrave go to school?
@Grasshopper:
Hopefully, but who knows what kind of pencils Glenwood are giving out these days with the quality of swimmers there.
Surely has to be one of those new edition clutch pencils with the extra special, comfortable grip
@Horsie, now that DHS are handing our Faber Castell’s he is in the bag
@Grasshopper:
Don’t know hey, depends on next years intake of swimmers.
I know of a certain swimmer from DPHS that ALL schools are hunting for, certainly the best U13 swimmer in. The country.
Last I heard he was more into DHS but that can change within an instant.
You can check him out if you want: Cole Poovan
@GreenBlooded:
Yeah Glenwood going back to what they were years ago swimming wise.DHS working on the rugby, swimming kinda left in the dark.
But Westville are just killing it right now! Waaaaay too good! How many races did GWD U14 win on Friday.
The key to your U14 and U15 successes are one main guy.
U14- Schoeman(2nd in SA)
U15- Bargate( 1st in SA in some events)
Queensburgh Boys High is green and yellow, no red at all.
@Horsie, yep the Glenwood 1st’s lost by 16 runs. They were 0/3 at one point chasing 213 so to get up to 197 all out was an outstanding effort and shows the boys do not give up. In adverse conditions they dug deep. Obviously Northwood have an outstanding opening bowler or he had a great day. Most schools would crumble to 50 all out. Anyway, I believe all the other A sides won, which is great. On the swimming, it seems Glenwood are creeping closer to Westville, will we see them knocked off their perch in 4 years time? Good things always come to an end….
@Greenwood: I grew up just outside the Burra. If areas were stricty enforced that’s where I would have gone. I think the colours are green and yellow.
http://www.hssm.co.za/news/swimming/kwazulu-natal/2013/westville-gala-results
This is for the Invitation Gala at Westville on Friday night.
@HORSEFLY NO.1:
So that was the Alan Burt Gala then. Nice to see Glenwood in third spot. Glenwood will become a force in aquatics in the next few years. Watch this space.
@GreenBlooded:
That’s for todays gala, not yesterday. DHS swimming at an all time low. Sad really.
Glenwood seem to have crept up to 2nd in KZN. Good on them.
Green Hopper
haven’t heard anything from the lightie about Imports – surely if its true the drums would be beating by now !!!
Greenblooded
some useless information here – not only do Queensburgh have bottle green blazers they have the exact same colours as Glenwood ties are very similar except thin red Lines instead of the broad red that GWD have
I know this as my Dad often threatened to send me there – he said Glenwood was making me arrogant !
http://www.hssm.co.za/news/swimming/kwazulu-natal/2013/westville-maintain-100-gala-win-record
This report is a complete cock-up. Some of the schools listed were not even there. But I’ll accept Glenwood in 3rd place……
RESULTS
Northwood 1st cricket beat Glenwood
Clifton U14A Cricket beat Westville
St Charles. U16A Cricket beat DHS
Hilton U16A beat Kearsney
Westville 1st beat Clifton
@Greenblooded, the burra is traditional Glenwood catchment area :-). Although Westville seem fishing around there too these days…
@beet: Queensburgh also have a bottle green blazer. Just saying………
@GreenBlooded:
I was thinking the exact same thing
@Grasshopper:
The KZN Schools Swimming Association. Very stupid planning!
And I think there might be another gala the following Wednesday!
DHS open rugby trials in a week,looking forward to that! Boys have been training hard at Berea!
@Horsie, and then Midmar……who plans these things? Idiots! Have they not thought about burnout!
@GreenBlooded:
Yes I guess so but the U14 is still very poor. Our U15 aren’t bad at all with U17 having a good freestyle team. Unfortunately that’s it.
DHS don’t seem to have swimming on top of their priority list it seems. Very sad. Maybe after things have improved in rugby will they go back to swimming and fix things up.
As for your U14s, shows how one team cam make such a huge difference in swimming. Amazing stuff.
Last time DHS had a team like that was U19 in 2009 who broke records in every gala they swam in with some still standing.
Glad I wasn’t there then but I will be at the D and D gala where all schools bring boys and do war cries at Kings Park.
Another gala for the boys tomorrow, bodies will surely be sore!
@burra: Now that you have outed this boy on this forum – expect offers from the big schools to come pouring in. I doubt he will still be there in 2 weeks.
@HORSEFLY NO.1: Not only the U14’s mate. Most of the races were DHS, Northwood, Parktown in the last 3 places.
College consistently around 8/9/10 – problem is depth, a star in each age group but no backup.
Glenwood U14’s are great – broke a few records. U15’s – also very good. After that – nothing. Seniors let us down. If it was on U14’s and U15’s we would have been top 3. Co-incidence that these are the 2 years that have had La Marque at the helm??
Westville – well what can I say. They were challenged by Grey College in a few events and lost quite a few but on the whole they were in a different class – it was plain to see. The complete turnout of the Grade 8 class also helped to lift the spirits. Their cheerleader was an absolute hoot – will have a great career in theatre comedy one day – a natural entertainer.
Must say – the new aquatics centre was disappointing from a practicallity point of view. The new pool is stunning but that’s were it ends for me. There is not enough seating and it is far too close to the pool with a 1m space between the bottom row of seats and the water. How no pedestrians managed to fall in I don’t know. The poor people on the bottom row opposite the starting blocks (in front ot the turns) got drenched with the splashes. It’s all too squashed up – they sould have thought out the seating better. Wooden bleechers in a nice centre like that just seems like an afterthought or they ran out of ammo halfway through. Not trying to take the piss – just an honest opinion.
@Greenwood: yes, I hear that they were average, but I think we have lost perspective that the 1st team this year will consist of the u16 of 2 years ago, and this team , had proven their worth since u14 level beating the much hyped team of Kearsney .
But the rumours of imports in the GW team are again abounding and boys that have worked hard for the positions since grade 8 again getting sidelined , Sean seems to show no confidence in players coming through the school and goes out and imports , this is bad for moral with the school
@GreenBlooded:
Sad to see DHS so low, their U14’s have really hit them hard!
Very bad intake there!
@HORSEFLY NO.1:
1 WBHS
2 Grey College
3 Clifton
4 PBHS
6 Glenwood
9 College
10 DHS
11 Northwood
12 Parktown
Other schools were St Davids, St Benedicts, Hilton – not too sure where they were.
What was final results of Westville gala today?
@burra:
Should probably make a move to one of the bigger schools then hey?
Watch out for the name Sisa Sibiya u16 his from Queensburgh High school.Not a big rugby school but that boy has talent his a huge prop has all the quality .Watch out for his name
@Gungets Tuft:
Oh only the best and latest quality for our little brother school! the distibution was slow and sluggish last year hence the low turnout of Prep boys at DHS in 2013 so the Marketing department pulled all the stops to get the best quality pencils money can buy this time around.
I think this should do the trick and we will definitely see more of them next year in grade 8!
I know a couple of those lighties and they told me they loved the feel that High School had to it, enjoyed seeing Prep oldies there, had a great time in the class and field and that the war cry was like nothing they’ve ever experienced in their lives!
Long live the legacy of The Pencil!!
@HORSEFLY NO.1: I trust the quality of the pencils was up to scratch and that the boys have many happy hours scribbling …
@Westers:
Northwood bought 16 players this year mate! There’s bound to be some especially if their U15 start winning after having lost by 40 points to almost everyone!
@ZnCoach:
I believe I said ‘didn’t’ not’don’t’. Too many things going wrong when schools buy from each other these days so its a good idea for school to trust their boys.
Can’t wait for the school season now! DHS U14 are just waiting to show themselves to the province!
@Greenwood, What hypocrisy do you think we might see in action this year?
@horsie, what rubbish that DHS don’t buy players in u15,u16 or opens, maybe not in 2012 or 2013 but be rest assured 3 players in your 2010 and 2011 teams were all bought in for 1st team, namely, Mbembi Payi, Edward Mongwabe, and the prop nicknamed “Beast”.
So maybe DHS have decided to “believe” in what they have got for this year but definitely hasn’t been the case all the time.
Wouldn’t it be great if every Saturday that close games were on the cards between all the schools?
http://durbanzone.co.za/mag/index.php/2013/02/08/dhss-langley-day-a-success/
Well done to DHS for such a successful day!! Hopefully School will get these boys for next year.
Horsie – I hope that Northwood succeed and the flies too – said it before – Durban needs all their top tier schools to be competitive Against these schools over the past few years its been a mindset of the GWD supporters of not will we win but how big a margin it will be – would be great to drive to a 1st team match at Dixons being a little bit nervous about whether we would be able to sort out the Flies or N Wood rather than to pitch knowing a win would almost be gauranteed
@Greenwood:
It seems there’s a little’I hope they fail to succeed’ tone in your post. I don’t mind actually, DHS can be one of very few school that can say they didn’t buy anyone for their U15,U16 and open age-groups.
Believe in what you have people!!!
Grasshopper , Greenblooded
maybe NW will have too many stars, many of them new recruits and this doesnt always work – ask GW
I understand from talk from the lighties the GW 1st team this year will be “average” so less pressure on them . NW will have expectations and pressure will be on them
lets see what happens when they play Westville – are we going to see half the NW 1st team standing behind the poles – as in Marne at Westville last year
we may just see some gross hyprocity in action this season
Close game
@Grasshopper: My sentiments exactly!!
@Horsie, it doesn’t matter, no one cares if other schools buy players only when Glenwood does
@NW_Knight
How many players have NW bought for ALL age groups?? I hear the numberis in the teens ??