Kearsney has a good chance to end a few streaks on Saturday 24 May 2024 when they travel down to the Durban South residential suburb to face a Glenwood team containing many u17 players. In a match already been dubbed as a KZN Top-8 Woodenspoon decider, it is the visitors who could taste their first win against the Green Machine since 2015. This represents Kearsney’s longest drought against any of their regular annual KZN opponents.
Kearsney – year of last win against regular KZN opponents
- Glenwood -2015
- Hilton – 2017
- Westville – 2018
- Michaelhouse – 2019
- Durban HS – 2022
- Northwood – 2022
- Clifton – 2023
- Maritzburg College – 2024
Kearsney’s last victory against Glenwood on Dixon’s Field was a memorable 20-14 result back in 2012. It was a monumental contest during happier rugby times for both schools. Back then the Green Machine were KZN’s best rugby school. Dixon’s was a fortress. Before the One-Stripe’s win, no KZN school had triumphed at Glenwood in several seasons.
Teamlists for Glenwood versus Kearsney in 2012
Teams for 25 May 2024:
| TEAM | GLENWOOD | TEAM | KEARSNEY | ||
| 1 | Ronald Petersen | u17 | 1 | Kudawashe Kachambwa | u18 |
| 2 | Martin Jr van Wyngaardt | u18 | 2 | Blake Kruger | u18 |
| 3 | Uze Xaba | u17 | 3 | Anele Cele | u18 |
| 4 | Michael Ize-iyamu | U18 | 4 | Joseph Roylance | |
| 5 | Tylo Madaat | u17 | 5 | Ryan Sim | u18 |
| 6 | Lonwabo Nkalitshana | 6 | Cullum Steer | u18 | |
| 7 | Tyler Conyngham | u17 | 7 | Connor McIntyre | u18 |
| 8 | Jordan Hargreaves | u18 | 8 | Qhamani Mlalandle | u18 |
| 9 | Lian Lochnar | u17 | 9 | Murray Weyer | u18 |
| 10 | Kungawo Ncamazane | u18 | 10 | Roydan Madatt | u18 |
| 11 | Caleb Reeding | u17 | 11 | Bukho Hlwatika | u17 |
| 12 | Lizwe Mtetwa | u17 | 12 | Doan Nel | u17 |
| 13 | Sisiphiwo Dwayi | u18 | 13 | Cameron Veenstra | u18 |
| 14 | Lesedi Khumalo | u17 | 14 | Valentino Lenge | u18 |
| 15 | Juan Viljoen | u17 | 15 | Daniel Eagar | u18 |
| Coach | DEREK HEIBERG | Coach | NEIL VAN HEERDEN |
@beet (Comment #28)
For sure, success brings jealously, so maybe it’s best to operate below the radar. I do hope Glenwood & Kearsney can remain A league teams, top 50 in SA. I mean I’m genuinely worried we will lose to St Charles on Sat. This is as low as it’s got. In 1996 we lost to Voortrekker & AHDN (Afrikaans Hoer Durban Noord), that must be the lowest point ever. Durban as a city is in severe decline so I can’t see a sudden influx of talent. The Cape will be overpopulated with talent within 5 years as the whole of wealthy SA moves there…
@Grasshopper (Comment #24)
I think people have moved on. When Glenwood was on top in KZN and going on lavish shopping sprees, there wasn’t too much love going their way and a lot of the comments grew the club to membership beyond the boundaries of KZN. It comes with the territory. But I reckon now the success of top dogs like DHS or Hilton are far more likely to encourage new membership to the Haters’ Club than Glenwood.
You might just be the very last posterboy for the Glenwood 2010’s Haters’ Club
@KatzRugga (Comment #25)
Nice three teams for KERF.
I think if PBHS goes to the Grey HS fest coupled with them now already committed to traveling to KZN twice for MC every year and HC/MHS in alternative years, seeing them back at KERF not realistic plus old head Alwyn had the strong ties to PBHS just like Keith T had the ties to Selborne who no longer attend.
Bishops and Grey have never been to KERF. If either one comes it would be awesome.
@KatzRugga (Comment #25)
Not sure why Kearsney beating Glenwood is a good thing. The Glenwood haters are loving life currently. Glenwood have been around too long to be kept down for too long. 2024 was always going to be tough. I expect Glenwood back in KZN top 4 within 3 years but be up & down each year as we can’t compete of bursaries etc
MAYBE THE BEST RESULT FOR KZN SCHOOLBOY RUGBY GOING FORWARD.
Maybe Kearsney and KZN tier 1 schools needed this result for Kearsney to still add value as an tier 1 team! But hard luck on a messy day for the Green Machine.
Thinking forward I would like to see Kearsney play the below 3 team at their own Easter festival. Three schools which maybe find their current rugby program to be in a similar state as that of Kearsneys. Steady decline over the last 5 or so year and perhaps peaking as far back as 10 years.
Pretoria Boys
Bishop &
Grey High
Everyone would want to prove something!
@beet (Comment #23)
I watched the game, Glenwood just take too long to get into stride, by the time they do the game has gone. They could easily have won that yesterday, young and lack of experience again. I have big hope though with the great U16A win, decent u15 results and a clean sweep in u14. A definite rebuilding year for the Green Machine, surely one upset in the team though….well done to Kearsney, just better discipline in the end
KC had the wind in the first half and built a decent lead but Glenwood got a try in the first half to narrow this lead to 17-7 and I’m sure it was worrying for the Maroons because Glenwood has been a very strong second half team when it comes to point scoring. The GMs must have a top S&C coach on board amongst other things.
The big play of the match for me was right after Glenwood closed the gap to 20-17 and were looking like the better team on the field, KC won the ball back from the kickoff and produced some good assertiveness when carrying the ball into contact and good support play to get clean recycles. I think it was Anele Cele and Doan Nel who came up with the best plays to get frontfoot and put Glenwood under pressure. Then when KC had earned the right they went wide and spread the ball effectively, keeping defenders on the inside in-check and quickly getting it to the right touch before the cover defence could react, to score the try and get an unassailable lead. In all KC matches there are always hints of the ability to do good things on the field but not enough consistency or patience a lot of the time. Cohesion is big factor that needs work as they have to identify how to get the ball to strike players at the right times.
I know that when depth is an issue, best-fit is the way to go but that said I’m not sure having a million different backline combinations in one season has helped the KC cause.
Hopefully Bash will be given the support to improve backline play at KC.
@Coolguy (Comment #21)
Yeah this was a much needed 2024 win for Kearsney.
In the bigger picture to win on Dixon’s for the first time in 12 years is a big deal.
DIXONS DROUGHT DONE
Loved the Warren Whiteley message to the boys this morning, seize this day, OBs day at home is a privilege, enjoy it! Don’t stand back and do your best….
@Slam (Comment #18)
Yep, the truth can be a hard pill to swallow. I call a spade a spade and don’t operate with blind faith. Some OBs expect me to support the school even if I don’t agree with certain things, I’m no sheep. Blokes like Dixon are too scared to email directly and chat about it, they prefer to diss me online. They all know how to get in touch. I get annoyed by key board warriors. Good luck to the Green Machine on OBs day this weekend
Hopper you’re clearly very passionate but you always seem to rub people up the wrong way…even the Glenwood old boys
Happy to talk to this Dixons fella in person, seems they have a gripe. Love these whinging OBs…
@Dixon’s (Comment #13)
Any Glenwood Old Boy that degrades another, is not a real old boy. We are a brotherhood…
@Dixon’s (Comment #13)
Like there are thousands of Glenwood Old Boys on here. I’m helping 3 disadvantaged boys at the school now, I know what is going on and it’s an uphill battle…
@Dixon’s (Comment #13)
Says the Head of Old Boys and master of it all….clueless.
@Pamos (Comment #7)
you are asking the wrong oke, notice how most of the Glenwood bloggers avoid him and dont comment on his nonsensical rants. he is a total joke and an embarrassment to his fellow old boys and 90 percent of the things he says are complete bull.
@Pamos (Comment #11)
True! The main goal yes is to beat Kearsney, St Charles and Rustenburg, that will give us 6 wins from 18 this season. I can’t see us beating Northwood and College in the last 2 games, but stranger things have happened.. We cannot do these 2nd half Houdini acts either eg vs Westville and Northwood, we have to hit the ground running and not get too far behind. Anyway, a win on Saturday could move us back into the Top 50. How things have changed, it was Top 10 a decade ago. Realistically though, over 100 years, Glenwood is a Top 40 school, maybe Top 30 at best. So we were fighting above our weigh division before.
@Grasshopper (Comment #10)
We all knew that Glenwood was going to struggle this year. Funny enough Mr Piek is the person to have recruited these current first-team players. The U14-U16 of Glenwood has done really well this year. The main goal now is to beat Kearsney and St Charles. Next year will be competitive again.
@Skywalker (Comment #9)
Agreed, other factors included DHS’s massive investment in improving Blackmores, new gym etc, Saad & OBs money coming in. Pinheiro arrived there in April 2017 with a goal to squash his previous employer and bring DHS back to the top, he was given a big purse to do that. He brought in OBs and the trust grew. Well done to DHS, showing it can take only 5 years to turn things around. I think the buddying up with DPHS & Glenwood Prep have helped too. The trawling of talent in EC & Border has helped. So it was a number of factors. Glenwood on the other hand had Dr Barnes who loved her sport but didn’t really drive acquisition, Glenwood lost some senior staff to DHS and Northwood, which didn’t help. The recruitment head Mr Piek left and then that dropped off. Now with ex Springbok Heike Van der Merwe heading up recruitment, that might help. Also, the new Head from Queens is a rugby man, hoping he can slowly implement his plan. Old Boys do need to get involved and start contributing, even if only small amounts. It will be an uphill battle for Glenwood though, location is just not good. Our swimming, waterpolo and hockey are not in a good place. Basketball is not great either. I think only positives in sport really are cricket, target shooting, athletics (individuals) and chess, you know the sports that count…hahaha. I also think losing Rudi Dames, Jeremy McLaren etc was big blows. Derek Heiberg has done pretty well, but it was a hard act to follow.
@Grasshopper (Comment #4)
Looking at those 2017, 2018, 2019 results…50-60 points put on Kearsney each time. Incredible.
But the tide was obviously turning and not having rugby due to covid for 2 years meant there was no visibility and way to see where juniour teams especially were in comparsion to others.
DHS I recall used the time wisely and we saw the opposite. NW played at DHS in 2019. The 1st team won and the results were as follows:
P15, W10, D2, L3
1st won 34-19
2nd won 22-12
3rd won 43-12
4th won 46-0
16A won 33-21
16B won 21-5
16C lost 5-10
15A won 20-14
15B won 17-14
15C lost 7-21
15D lost 7-29
14A drew 10-10
14B won 12-7
14C won 32-7
14D drew 10-10
We were meant to play them on our Old Boys Day in 2020. Covid hit cancelling out 2020 and 2021, and so we played them in 2022 and suddenly the results were:
P16, W8, D0, L8 and the u14/u15 teams who had won more games against DHS as juniors in 2019, and at the least were evenly matched, were well beaten in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd team games.
1st lost 31:14
2nd lost 27:10
3rd lost 26:3
Over those years Engledow arrived, and a few new faces as well and the situation changed. The DHS 1st team became unstoppable in 2022, 2023 and now again in 2024.
So change can happen, but in Glenwood case it went the other way over that time and it will take some work to rebuild – but the junoir results show there is something there to work with.
@Pamos (Comment #7)
Just got fed up with the politics with the old head, continuous stories of poaching, overage players etc. They lost touch & now so many live overseas. My 1996 year, over 60% have left SA. They need to engage with us more, do meetings in London & Sydney etc
@Grasshopper (Comment #6)
Why do you think Glenwoods Old boys aren’t pulling their weight?
@Pamos (Comment #5)
Nope, living in the UK and not a significant year for me. 30 years in 2026, might try.
@Grasshopper (Comment #3)
Are you going?
Glenwood vs Kearsney (since 1942)
Played: 80
Won: 48
Lost: 29
Drawn: 3
60% win rate
Since 2010
2010 – 21-7 (W)
2011 – 20-16 (W)
2012 – 14-20 (L)
2013 – 25-26 (L)
2014 – 86-13 (W)
2015 – 11-13 (L)
2016 – 21-7 (W)
2017 – 59-12 (W)
2018 – 58-8 (W)
2019 – 52-15 (W)
2020 – DNP
2021 – COVID
2022 – 31-10 (W)
2023 – 18-13 (W)
2024 -?
Probably as close as 2013. I’m watching the U15 & U14 results to see if there is light at the end of the tunnel. I think both schools only 1 CW/AW player, must be a first in a decade..
Glenwood has a decent record vs Kearsney, usually very tight games. That year was a great one for both schools. Doops, Schramm and Tedder for Kearsney and Carel Swart, Zee Mkhabela, Marwana for Glenwood. Uncle Tom was still lurking around. For me Carel Swart was the best flank in the province then, with Schramm best No 8. The Doops should have locked together. Good times for both schools, both struggling this year. Kearsney battling to bring in paying talent and Glenwood just stuck in a declining area with no money to hand out tens of bursaries any longer. The whole Kershaw debacle probably breaking trust with potential investors and OB money. Hoping Glenwood raise their game at home on Old Boys weekend. What was scary is that the Old Boys dinner only has about 60 OBs going.
My ‘indicators’ predict
Glewood 22 – 21 Kearsney
If I was a Glenwood supporter I’d love this headline and article. When people write Glenwood off, that is when they are at their most dangerous. Kearsney are the favorites for this game but why? Big matchup would be Doan Nel vs Juan Viljoen. Whoever can put their team in the right position will have the upper hand in this game. Both are very talented, the flyhalf position in the U17 age group is stacked in Durban with Nela, Moolman, Van Wyk there aswell.