Maritzburg College beats St Charles 32-12 – match report 2018

Compiled with the help of Maritzburg College and St Charles College

On an overcast and rainy day, Mariztburg College hosted St Charles College (also known as the Malakites), in which has seen an incredible 41 year silence broken. The two Pietermaritzburg college campuses are just 4km apart.

This match was the main attraction of a very successful Pietermaritzburg Day which saw Maritzburg College host 28 fixtures against teams from local schools St Charles (13 teams), Voortrekker (8), Linpark (5), Carter (1) and Howick (1).

St Charles arrived on Goldstones revelling in the role of underdog with the aim of upsetting a Maritzburg College side who were still in a preseason state of mind. To add some spice to the fixture the conditions underfoot were not conducive to an expansive style of play.

St Charles started off as the brighter of the two teams putting College under pressure but it was College who missed the first opportunity to land a penalty. In the first ten minutes Goldstones resembled a boxing ring where both teams set out to get a measure of each other by trying to land an early knockout punch. St Charles then responded drawing first blood with a well worked try to take the lead through left winger, Zukile Mbuli. The conversion was unsuccessful.

This seemed to galvanise the College side who, after sustained pressure, scored a somewhat fortuitous try when after a well contested scrum the ball popped out and the College scrumhalf Philalane Simamane swooped on the loose ball and darted over and brought the scores level. The try was converted by flyhalf Keegan Collyer which put College in the lead at 7-5.

Further College pressure added two more penalties in the first half with Collyer calmly slotting them over. This put the score at 13-5 as the referee signalled the end of the first half.

The second half started eventfully as the College winger Anele Nzimande almost barged over with a wonderful attacking move in the left hand corner. A much improved College team had emerged after halftime with the intent of running their opposition off their feet. This change in intensity proved too much for St Charles as they could not handle the physicality that the College ball carriers brought to the bear on the St Charles defenders.

Philalane Simamane benefited from this change in style as he managed to find a chink in St Charles’ defensive system and snuck through a half gap and dotted down next to the uprights. The try was duly converted and College finally looked set and ready to dominate their opposition. The hosts led 20-5 at this stage.

A midfield battle then ensued with both teams trying to take control of the game however, College seized and opportunity and scored again The College backs landed this knockout blow with a well-executed backline move from the halfway line causing the College speedster Nkondlo Radebe racing through and scoring in the right hand corner. The tricky conversion was calmly slotted home by Collyer with the College First XV looking good value for the 22-point lead of 27-5.

College seemed to have control of the game but St Charles didn’t give up. The home team were brought quickly back down to earth with St Charles punching through a complacent College defence as flyhalf Barden Muir scored his school’s second try under the upright and then converted it to reduce the deficit to 27-12.

From the resulting kick-off it was evident that the College side wanted to rectify this error with some massive hits being metered out on the St Charles ball carriers. This caused the St Charles players to become wary of the contact zone and commit a series of errors which allowed the College side to play with a greater sense of freedom. College started to string a number of phases together which wore down their opponents with every tackle, and with a clearly flagging opposition, Keegan Collyer found some space and slotted a perfectly weighted kick pass with Brandon Nel gathering up the bouncing ball and barging over to finish off a wonderful display of attacking rugby.

This brought the score line to 32-12 and the ref brought an end to proceedings after the conversion was missed.

St Charles can be commended on their die hard attitude but also did make things hard for themselves but simple errors which could also attain to the first” big match” of the season. The Malakites should have an exciting season ahead of them if they can stay positive throughout the season.

For St Charles flank Brent Lowrens was simple outstanding.

For the Red, Black, White prop Spha Dube, lock Gary Lesur, flyhalf Keegan Collyer and wing Nkondlo Radebe stood out.

For College it was useful start against opponents who surprised many with the amount of resistance they put up. The hosts now turn their attention to preparing for the televised Premier Interschools away match against Glenwood, who they have not beaten since 2010.