Kearsney beats Northwood 23-22 – match report 2018

Compiled with the aid of the match report by Kearsney College:

Kearsney hosted Northwood in an FNB classic clash on a pleasant but gloomy late afternoon following two days of rainy conditions.

Kearsney got off to a bad start when even before the kickoff whistle sounded when it was revealed that dependable centre Robbie Koenig had been injured in the warm-up and withdrawn. This forced a last minute reshuffle of the backline.

Northwood dominated the opening quarter and eventually their burly No.8  Ranger Mfakadolo dived over in the left-hand corner resulting from a quick tap penalty to which the hosts were slow to react.

The Knights persistence and domination continued and they were rewarded again with a cracker of try scored by wing Jeff Majola from a well-executed counter attack resulting from a poor return kick and defence. Flyhalf JP du Preez converted and Northwood deserved the 12-0 lead after 20 minutes’ play.  Over the last few years the Durban North team had made a success of forwards play and developed a couple of SA Schools players in the process but it was their improved backline functioning under the guidance of head coach Torsten Sorensen which appears to have helped them turn a corner and increase their level of competitiveness now.

Kearsney regrouped well and soon turned over a lineout, close to their own 22m. They moved the ball down the back line and, after two breakdowns, fly half Taine Muirhead broke the defensive line, finding fullback Jacques Odendaal at full flight. He timed his feed to winger Mark Pretorius who scored in the left corner for an unconverted try.

The One-Stripes found their rhythm and within three minutes scored another brilliant try, where forwards and backs combined well. Muirhead glided between two defenders for another line break. Once goal-side of the defensive wall he immediately feed his eighthman and captain Andrew Harding who in turn drew and passed to flanker Taine Polzi on his inside. It was fantastic interplay which opened up the path to the tryline. Polzi outsprinted the defence to dive over near the upright. Muirhead converted and brought the scores level at 12-all until halftime.

Kearsney dominated territorially the first 10 minutes of the second half and capitalised on two Muirhead penalties to take the lead at 18-12.

The next try must be the most memorable of the match by flanker and man of the match Sibu Sangweni. He provided a seldom seen solo effort of this quality from close to his own 22m, beating a number of defenders using strength and pace, to score a spectacular long range try in the left-hand corner.  At 23-12 Kearsney had a bit of breathing room.

But Northwood who started the match with no fewer than 11 under-17 players and ended it with 12 grade-11s on the pitch were by no means done. Northwood responded soon afterwards with a penalty by scrumhalf Cameron Miller to close the score to 15-23.

Kearsney had the better of the remainder of the match but failed to capitalise on opportunities.

Credit to Northwood for playing to the end displaying a lot of character. After Kearsney failed to close the match from a penalty for touch, the visitors threw the kitchen at the home team and finally big centre Tyren Kroos forced his way over from close range followed by Miller adding the extras from the last play of the match.

The final score was 23-22 to the hosts.

Outstanding players for Kearsney were Sangweni, Muirhead, Polzi, Odendaal and Harding.

Outstanding players for Northwood were the loose-forward trio of Mfakadolo, Sasko Ndlovu and Sivu Mpendu along with du Preez and Kroos.

 

	KEARSNEY			NORTHWOOD
1	Mpendulo Dlamini	u17	1	C. Gamhiwa	u17
2	Reid Stuart	u17	2	B. Cele	u18
3	Oliver Carmody	u17	3	D. Van Huizen	u17
4	Dylan Bissett	u18	4	P. Honing	u17
5	Nic Baines	u18	5	C. Bigwood	u17
6	Taine Polzi	u18	6	S. Ndlovu	u17
7	Sibu Sangweni	u18	7	S. Mpendu	u17
8	Andrew Harding	u18	8	C. Mfakadolo	u17
9	Marco Mattioda	u18	9	C. Miller	u18
10	Taine Muirhead	u18	10	JP. Du Preez	u17
11	Gcina Gumede	u18	11	M. Mudara	u18
12	Phoka Mchunu	u18	12	J. Hensilijn	u17
13	Robbie Koenig	u18	13	T. Kroos	u18
14	Scott Couzens	u17	14	L. Majola	u17
15	Jacques Odendaal	u18	15	N. Makhaza	u17