Maritzburg College took on Northwood on Goldstones on Human Rights Day, Friday 21 March 2014.
If the sign of a good team is being able win when not at their best, then College’s rather impressive 31-6 score-line against Northwood puts them on a level above good because the Red, Black, White attack scored four tries while struggling for much of the game to get into the higher gears.
The margin of victory flatters College in some respects. They were outstanding in defence though. The 6-points conceded is testimony to this. No one can take credit away from the boys for putting their bodies on the line to stop battering rams of the big Northwood pack. The scrums were amongst the most absorbing contests any school rugby supporter anywhere could hope to watch. College had there seemingly usual issues at lineout time and there was a period in the first half where they squandered several attacking opportunities near the Northwood tryline by turning over the ball on their lineout throw-ins. However in this department it was not all bad. Lineout work did pay dividends on two occasions in the first half.
It was just with ball in hand that College looked undercooked and surprised by getting 31 points. The backline was disconnected. There was a lack of urgency, precision and creativity on attack. Yet the team still managed to get over the white chalk four times. Key to this achievement was discipline and defensive technique. College’s defence was always organised or recovered extremely well when put under pressure. This gave them the upper hand at the breakdown and won them turnovers many via penalties, which they in turn covered into territorial gain and then on four out of about six visits to the Northwood 22m, they finishes were clinical.
The match was characterised by its physicality up front. Big collisions were the order of the day. The Northwood juggernaut tried their best to steam-roll College into submission. Their pick ‘n drive and any variant that brought their mighty frontrow of Kabelo Motlong, Beast Mthembu and Ngoni Chidoma into ballcarrier bashing play was effective at gaining ground. The smashes highlighted both the power and sustainability of the Northwood pack. However just two beautifully struck 1st half penalties by inside centre Dawid Weersma were all that Northwood had to show for all their efforts and ball possession. No tries! This served to underline a couple of things. Firstly as already mentioned the ability of College’s pack to absorb and even return the physical blows in the battle of the forwards, which ultimately saw the hosts coming out on top. Secondly Northwood’s lack of diversification: there is still much work ahead if they truly wish to benefit from their forwards ability to place opponents on the back foot.
Aside from flyhalf Nto Sibisi exhibiting hints of x-factor on a couple of moves, anything that did not involve the forwards, generally did not get Northwood across the gain-line. There isn’t a lack of effort, it’s just that the backs just need sharpening and perhaps a few better designs to help them crack open more D-walls.
Also perhaps a little concerning for Northwood was their inconsistent decision-making when awarded penalties. 90% of the time the obvious call appeared to be let Weersma’s huge punt set up a lineout deep in the College half and back jumping lock Shane Kennedy do what he does best when the throw-ins are accurate. However this was not often the decision arrived at. The lowest point was reached when the visitors opted for a scrum on halfway from a penalty awarded and then were not able to execute a set move to justify the call.
Northwood did not deserve to lose by 25 points based on the balance of play but their redzone defence let them down quite badly. College’s second try was a carbon copy of the first one. Lineouts setup just a few metres away from the right corner flag compliments of the very accurate penalty punts by scrumhalf Mac van der Linde, resulted in clean takes and well set rolling drives. In-form flank Goi le Roux had an outstanding game and crashing over for both first half tries. It was full-marks to College for execution but with such a big pack, Northwood should have offered better resistance to these rolling mauls. The tries brought the other College hero of the game, Marcel Coetzee into action. His place kick timing is at a peak right now and it showed with him slotting four conversions and a penalty. Added to his two second half tries, this gave the veteran outside centre a personal tally of 21 points for the game.
Coetzee’s two second half tries also involved similar finishes although the build-ups were slightly different. The first one was a penalty kicked into the corner, lineout won, some rare continuity with the College forwards very prominent and powerfully built Coetzee cutting in on the angle and finding no one between himself and the tryline.
The second try started with new College wing Xolisa Guma. Sadly Guma was starved of ball but on the two occasions that he did get a chance with to show his skills, it was like watching Joe Rokocoko when he first burst onto the scene. Speed, lateral manoeuvrability and the ability to shrug off tackles saw him almost turn a two-metre gap on the outside into a try (The touch judge made a big call that he had stepped on the line). It was however his run on the inside that provided the field position for a sustained College attack. Once again Coetzee crossed into the inside centre channel and was on hand to collect and dive over with relative ease.
Maritzburg College will bank this 31-6 result with the realisation that they can and may have to play better rugby in the weeks and months to come to achieve the similar results.
| COLLEGE | NORTHWOOD | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiaan Steyn | 1 | Ngoni Chidoma |
| 2 | Masikani Mazwi | 2 | Ntutuko Mthembu |
| 3 | Tanaka Chikwezvero | 3 | Kabelo Motlong |
| 4 | Wian Jacobs | 4 | Greg Slater |
| 5 | Justin Gold | 5 | Shane Kennedy |
| 6 | Hayden Tharratt | 6 | Calvin Silson |
| 7 | Renard Le Roux | 7 | Keegan Sparks |
| 8 | Daryn Goodson (c.) | 8 | Ross Muil (c.) |
| 9 | Mac van der Linde | 9 | Kusiva Kazembe |
| 10 | Jordan Koekemoer | 10 | Nto Sibisi |
| 11 | Xolisa Guma | 11 | Wallace de Lange |
| 12 | Tristan Hanlon | 12 | Dawid Weesma |
| 13 | Marcel Coetzee | 13 | Piko Sobhale |
| 14 | Byron Watson | 14 | Siya Sithole |
| 15 | Matt Kriel | 15 | Jaydon Stevens |
This is going to be a great season for sure..
@Ninja: I commented to people standing around me that I am going to take a “clicker” with me to count stoppages. Greenblooded is exactly right, when you have a quality match like the Ville Kearsney match, or College Glenwood last year, look first at the ref. I am willing to bet that many spectators can’t remember the ref in those games, but in the others, where both sets of fans end up the moer in, all they can remember is the ref. Obviously sometimes you get an error ridden match where the oke has to blow constantly, but …
I feel the College backs were the reason for the NW forwards still running around the park in the latter stages of the game, as College did not spread the ball to make them run more.
A contributing factor was also the ref, who did not allow the game to flow and this was testament to both teams and supporters expressing their frustrations.
@beet: Spot on.
@Tjoppa: Oh, that.
I have a great deal of respect for, and faith in, our team this year. As I do every year. I detest the ranking system, I think it has contributed a lot to the frenzy of buying, poaching and scholarships in schoolboy rugby. And it is flawed, no matter how you work it out. I know we can’t get away from it, but I don’t have to subscribe.
As far as a great season is concerned, we all hope for that, but right now we don’t even have eggs, let alone chickens. Lets talk in week 5 of term 3. 8) …. But thanks for the vote of confidence, this group of boys has come a long way and worked very hard.
@Gungets Tuft: Top 10
@Tjoppa: About?
@Gungets Tuft: Are you starting to believe me?
@Tjoppa: I think you have called it there. The NW loosehead had his head under the College tights arm. As the NW prop stood up he popped the College boy. The NW #1 was lucky to stay on in the last quarter, running 15m to a ruk-en-pluk, flying in at head height. Penalty reversed but not the right sanction at this level.
All in all a good game of rugby, Northwood are probably better than the score showed, going to be interesting watching them this year.
@RugbyDad: 99% of the times if the tight head scrums “in” it is one of two things. His lock behind him is not binding correctly and therefore scrums on the inside cheek of the tight head and forcing him to scrum “in” OR if the loosehead is clever he binds long and with the push he pulls the tight head’s bum to the outside and viola the tight head scrum’s “in”.
The loose head standing up is due to him getting a hiding. He is suppose to have his head under the chest of the tight head and scrumming forward. We have a lot of scrummers, loose head, that “scrums” outside the scrum thereby pulling the scrum to his left. It seems impressive to the crowd but he is actually achieving nothing. S15 refs is calling it walking around and gives a penalty against the loose head.
@RugbyDad: I agree about the NW side though. They are a banana skin waiting for the tier 1 schools, and I think will improve as the season goes on. The day their backs fire along with the pack is the day they can beat any of the KZN schools.
After that the worry is the lower age groups. Lots of work to do there.
@RugbyDad: I think it has to do with the NW prop just not being able to get a decent crouch. His torso is always too high, making it impossible to get a decent jersey bind without dislocating your shoulder. I am no front ranker but it would be interesting to see the video. When he plays again check it out, before the shove comes in his face is already out and he is on his way up. I wonder how tall he is, it’s almost that he just can’t get low enough. Maybe it only happened when they were right in front of me in the second half ..
@Gungets Tuft: Yep, but the College tight head was binding on the shorts in every scrum, then scrumming in (both illegal). Refereeing was not great – ref was slow and missed plenty both sides.
@RugbyDad: A different ref might have pinned the NW loose head all day. He was standing up before the ball was even in and the ref just kept blowing College. Observe the next few games NW play and see if another ref calls it differently.
NW pack were good and consistently outscrummed College, but College forwards had the better of Rucks and Mauls. NW 9 was good, 10 played well (but needs to be the general on the field) and 12 was good. Backline stuttered all day.
College were good value. Thought Tharrat had a good game, as did Coetzee. I expected much more of Koekemoer (but I suspect his space was cut down). Both the imports impressed, although the tighthead took a bit of strain in the scrums. Wing was big, quick and strong. College’s only KZN opposition will come from Glenwood – no one else will come close.
NW have had 2 tough first games on the road and will no doubt be good value at home for the next few games.
NW one dimensional as per usual. It’s a pity as they seem to have some talent in the backs. but tend to prefer the pick and drive all day long. If the opposition are prepared to tackle, they eventually spill the ball and it’s back to square one.
College looking pretty good. Loosies have got a high work rate.
In the backs, the combination of Koekemoer at 10 and Coetzee at 13 is lethal.
@Redblack White: There were a coupe of good performances from the NW team. Their Dutch centre is a good hard runner, got a nice boot, would be impressive in better company. The whole NW pack were good for it (the monster front row was still making yards at the end, i would have lost a bet on that happening), the backs not so much, just lacked penetration but credit must also go to the College backs who defended well. I am sure Beet will have a nice blow for blow report.
@Redblack White: A number of the NW coaches arrived without their Boksmart forms, there was some running around getting blanks and filling them in. Couple is buses also late
For sure the forwards are going to hurt for a week. NW pack was massive. Very impressed with their no, 6 though
U 16 A match 2nd half blown 17 minutes early. One of the midlands refs told me that many of the games started late so they were trying to catch up on time.
Full time 31-6. Forwards are going to hurt for a week
1sts Half time – 14-6. Heavy battle up front.
Sorry, College 3rds vs NW 2nds 17-14
u16A Full time – 52-0
College 2rds vs NW 2nds – half time 5-7
u16A Full time – 52-0
U16A half time 35-0 (looks like the 1/2 was blown 6 minutes short, courtesy of the new scoreboard)
College 5th – 22-0
U14A half time 33-0