It has been Northwood’s best season in a long while but one piece of unfinished business remains to be sorted out on Saturday as they take on Kearsney in televised FNB Classic Clash in Durban North.
As things stand, of all the top rugby high schools in KZN, Kearsney now represents the Northwood Knights’ longest winless streak in terms of year. It dates back to 1996. During this decade Northwood have definitely had their chances to beat the One-Stripes on at least two occasions but ended up leaving the field frustrated at what could have been as Kearsney pulled out the all stops to sneak home in those said matches.
Northwood are favourites going into this season ending home match. Should they win it, Glenwood, a school they have not been playing of late, will become their longest drought once again following that incredible giant-killing 9-8 feat of 2011.
2019 has perhaps already delivered its biggest highlight for Northwood. They beat Maritzburg College for the first time ever. They also beat DHS, Michaelhouse and Westville in 2019. They were made to work very hard for each of these wins. The last win against Hilton was in 2014.
| # | KWAZULU-NATAL | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | MP | BP | Pts | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glenwood | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 186 | 60 | 126 | 20 | 3 | 23.0 | 4.60 |
| 2 | Hilton | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 129 | 81 | 48 | 22 | 2 | 24.0 | 4.00 |
| 3 | Northwood | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 147 | 119 | 28 | 20 | 3 | 23.0 | 3.83 |
| 4 | Michaelhouse | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 158 | 100 | 58 | 12 | 5 | 17.0 | 2.83 |
| 5 | Maritzburg College | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 155 | 137 | 18 | 12 | 5 | 17.0 | 2.43 |
| 6 | Kearsney | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 136 | 161 | -25 | 14 | 2 | 16.0 | 2.29 |
| 7 | Westville | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 152 | 162 | -10 | 8 | 5 | 13.0 | 1.86 |
| 8 | DHS | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 122 | 254 | -132 | 4 | 2 | 6.0 | 0.86 |
| 9 | St Charles | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 80 | 173 | -93 | 4 | 1 | 5.0 | 0.83 |
| 10 | Clifton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 30 | -18 | 0 | 0 | – | 0.00 |
Team
| # | NORTHWOOD | # | KEARSNEY | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Bradley Taylor | u18 | ||
| 2 | 2 | Ulrich Botha | u17 | ||
| 3 | 3 | Oliver Carmody | u18 | ||
| 4 | 4 | Max Immelman | u17 | ||
| 5 | 5 | Timothy Patton | u18 | ||
| 6 | 6 | Aaron Smith | u17 | ||
| 7 | 7 | Dean Burrell | u18 | ||
| 8 | 8 | Massimo Fierro | u17 | ||
| 9 | 9 | Jordan Bamber | u18 | ||
| 10 | 10 | Matthew Hind | u17 | ||
| 11 | 11 | Luke Dudley | u17 | ||
| 12 | 12 | Luke Wilson | u18 | ||
| 13 | 13 | Connor De Bruyn | u17 | ||
| 14 | 14 | Josh Muller | u18 | ||
| 15 | 15 | Derick Marshall | u18 |
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