It was perhaps not the most fluent of matches but the big crowd that gathered at Meadow’s Field in Balgowan were certainly treated to a 70-minute session filled with highlights and interesting post-match talking points as the hosts Michaelhouse held on to beat Kearsney 27-24.
Michaelhouse’s star flyhalf and captain Bader Pretorius opened the scoring with a 40m straight penalty kick in the 7th minute. By that stage House’s territorial dominance had partly been achieved through Kearsney’s own poor lineout work, an aspect that haunted their play throughout the match. Kearsney hooker Josh van Vuuren didn’t have a day to remember in this setpiece but in broken play his outstanding form continued. In the 8th minute, the determined hooker wrestled a ball away from the strong grip of Pretorius and proceeded to carry it on a 40m non-stop angled run towards the try-line, showing decent speed and an even better hand-off when House wing Victor Foster attempted to bring him down short of the line. The opportunistic try was converted by Kearsney’s player of the match, centre James Tedder, putting the visitors 7-3 up.
Michaelhouse then threatened with a well-constructed redzone attack centred around efficient recycling, only to see flank Jack Walters lose possession near the try-line. It was to be the home team’s most constructive passage of sustained offence and deserved a better reward. Such is the nature of the game though that Michaelhouse were rewarded a few minutes later but the exact opposite situation in that their try came in a flash of a second from a going nowhere defensive position. It began well inside the Michaelhouse half with a key turnover won on defence by industrious openside flank Zander Prinsloo. House shuffled the ball around a bit without making any real ground gains before trying their luck on the well-guarded short side of a ruck. Here speedster Victor Foster more than made up for his earlier defensive shortcoming by producing a moment of sheer brilliance. While pinned against the touch line, he managed to grubber ahead, keeping the ball in play, then got there first to reclaim it. With attempting tacklers coming at him, Foster was forced to cut inside and the diagonal line he picked from near the left touch line took him all the way to the right corner flag in a 60m dash. Firing on some serious afterburners and using his tackle dodging ability, the wing made the difficult look easy, beating numerous defenders and finishing what started as a no-hoper in excellent style. This made it 8-7 in the 20th minute.
Tedder and Pretorius exchanged penalties as the lead continued to change hands before the halftime break which had Michaelhouse ahead at 11-10.
The House supporters might have regarded themselves a bit fortuitous to be backing the leading team at that stage. Although the first half had been reasonably evenly contested, Kearsney had better scoring opportunities. Kearsney’s talented young flyhalf Cameron Ritchie had a pleasing outing. His line-break and combination with centre Matthew Watts looked like it had produced an outstanding end to end try, only for it to be ruled out by the assistant ref flagging for foot in touch. The explosive Tedder also came agonisingly close after he sliced through the House midfield and with the help of his momentum crossed the white chalk, albeit in an awkward position from which he lost the ball forward in the act of trying to ground it. In between these disallowed tries, Kearsney wing Brendan Vorster broke free down the left and with the goal line metres away, he just could not do enough to evade the important last line of defence try-saving tackle by centre Nick Anderson.
Even thought there was very little flow to the start of the second half, Michaelhouse were laying better attacking platforms and slowly gaining ascendency as their opponents struggled to generate anything that resembled front-foot ball, partly due to the outstanding defence offered against Kearsney’s highly rated big ball-carrier Tristan Dixon. During the half House started many encouraging plays using their attractive attacking designs which put players into holes but from here their normally reliable handling and decisiveness just wasn’t up to the standard expected of this year’s team.
The Midlands side’s second half dominance gradually told as Pretorius extended the lead to 17-10 with two more penalty kicks before the 50 minute mark.
Due to their numerous small contributions Michaelhouse hooker Matt Wiseman and tall lock Jordan Sinsink-Clee played vital unsung hero type roles in the win. Wiseman who’s all-round game made him a strong candidate for player of the match then produced a line-break carry in a sequence where Walters also featured prominently and this paved the way for replacement centre Nick Herbert to eventually cross for a try, converted by Pretorius, making it 24-10.
Shortly after reminding all of how dangerous he can be with ball in hand, the strong on his feet reader of play, Pretorius succeeded with another shot at goal, taking his tally to 17 points for the match and with less than 20 minutes to go, House looked home and dry at 27-10.
Opposing flyhalf Ritchie had other ideas on how the game should turn out and he was actively involved in Kearsney’s second try in which he combined well first with with Vorster and then with try-scorer Watts for whom he created the gap with a smart run and offload near the line. Tedder converted, making it 27-17 with 15-minutes left.
Michaelhouse had their opportunities to extend the lead, with the most clear cut being a missed drop goal.
With very little to lose and timing almost up, Kearsney profited from a good kick chase and pressured House into handing back possession well inside the 22m area. Aided by a couple of penalties awarded during this surge, the One-Stripes from Botha’s Hill made use of tap ‘n go and crucial but slow ball retention to provide hard working lock Jared Meyer with the path to clash over the line from close range. Once again Tedder added the extras leaving the visitors trailing 24-27 with just 7 seconds of official playing time reflected on the digital scoreboard clock.
Michaelhouse’s defence withstood the final challenge from an improved Kearsney outfit, allowing the home team to remain unbeaten this season. The result was a fair reflection of the way play had unfolded. Kearsney showed character to come back in the last quarter, while Michaelhouse, currently KZN’s best team proved their class by being able to win while not at their best.
TEAMS
| MICHAELHOUSE | KEARSNEY | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anele Songca | 1 | Nick Luyt |
| 2 | Matthew Wiseman | 2 | Joshua van Vuuren |
| 3 | Lee-Marvin Mazibuko | 3 | Greg van Noordwyk |
| 4 | Jaryd Kleynhans | 4 | Ryan Jackson |
| 5 | Jordan Sinsink-Clee | 5 | Jared Meyer |
| 6 | Zander Prinsloo | 6 | Luke Croshaw |
| 7 | Jack Walters | 7 | Tristan Dixon |
| 8 | Mulalo Sadiki | 8 | James Miller |
| 9 | Billy Dean | 9 | Warren Driver |
| 10 | Bader Pretorius | 10 | Cameron Ritchie |
| 11 | Victor Foster | 11 | Brendan Vorster |
| 12 | Nicholas Anderson | 12 | James Tedder |
| 13 | Luke Tomlinson | 13 | Matthew Watts |
| 14 | Mikael Maingard | 14 | Mitch Nesbit |
| 15 | Liam Furniss | 15 | Cullen Waberski |
@Redblack White: And ‘Kaans, LO and English for the matrics, more evidence of terrible organization. But never fear, I am sure ou Chopper will be able to add an exam timetable to his task for the next few days, must be a simple thing to add something so trivial into a mere sports timetable.
@Gungets Tuft: @Redblack White: Oh ja…that other thing schoolboys do when not playing rugby
@Playa: @beet: Staying on in Jozi was a no no. Little matter of schoolwork and maths exams ( for the 5th formers at least) Yep. Schoolwork comes first
Oh well- we won in ’83 and that is all that matters. In those days College were no1 in KZN and then came the rest. No rankings- JUST HARD SCHOOLBOY RUGBY.
@beet: Let’s see what happens, pretty sure it’s not cast in stone, so soon enough we will have a solution looking for a problem. Wynberg for A teams they will fly in, Cape Town return is not unaffordable, a golf day will raise the funds.
I know for a fact that those boys wanted to be in PMB this week, even the 2 days. There’s also the issue of school time in the matric year for many of them. Remember too that this is not a normal term, just be self employed to know how disruptive the public holidays are. The other option would have been to drop the PBHS fixture, one of only 5 where we get matches down the line.
I’m sure we can fit them in, when Chopper shows us how he would have organized the KZN fixtures this year we will have the solution
@Gungets Tuft: It’s really only the MC 1st XV squad that suffers as a result of this planning. The rest of the school were not in Jozi over the last long weekend. Perhaps College should have tried to find a way for their 1st XV squad to stay up in Pretoria for the 3 days and avoid the 1200km trip?
The Wynberg Fest for the rugby A-teams is a good option by MC. It’s an established festival over a holiday period.
If there are plans for an annual inter-schools against Wynberg well that just seems crazy.
If the trip to Bloem is a killer, what will the trip to Cape Town be like. I reckon MC will have to put 2 days of travel aside for that inter-schools.
The MC headmaster Luman had ties with Wynberg so a guess would be that he is the driving force behind this inter-schools. Hopefully he isn’t surrounded by Yes-men. If he is then I can’t think of a better time for the MCOB’s to step in and bring a bit of sanity to this situation. I thought Glenwood were overdoing it with their trip to PE for A&B teams only but 3000km for one inter-schools in CT makes the PE trip seem like a reasonable idea.
@Playa: They got back early evening on Monday. Leave Thursday to go back. Its not that bad a drive now, certainly not like a Bloem trip which is a killer.
@chopper: Makes one think what?
The boys will have a proper jol down in Cape Town, my lightie would have loved that, he had an annual Cape Town tour when at DPHS and it was the highlight of their year.
Here’s an exercise ou Chopper – do a rugby fixture schedule for the KZN domestic season, add in KERF, Jeppe and Wildeklawer for the usual suspects. Let’s see what it looks like. After all, it’s just slick organisation and planning ….build ones domestic fixtures around the festivals one has accepted to attend.
You will have to take into account the matches that PBHS, KES, GCB and Affies have also accepted of course, but should be a doddle. Don’t forget the public holidays in there as well, wouldn’t want to irritate the parents who like to take holidays with their boys. And add in the mid-term breaks for the private schools. I will personally deliver it to the various headmasters in KZN, with your compliments.
@oldschool: Do you actually think schools select their opponents at festivals? Rock – Paper – Siccors? Or do they place their favorite teams to play against in a sealed envelope? I agree with @pedantic, the rankings are irrelevant and an indication of … nothing at all.
So why would a school manage their games to play against weaker opposition to gain accendence in the rankings? Actually MHS secretly funded the invention of Spud via an unaccounted for Old Boy slush fund, to up its profile with unsuspecting 13 year olds. Never has MHS purported to be Grey College, nor does it intend to be. Always competitive, never a world beater.
@chopper: @Thumper: Did the teams that played at Jeppe travel back to PMB today, only to have to travel back to the Noordvaal on Thursday?That would be bad planning. Give props for good planning however, if they have remained there for these few days, and only those that remained behind are only going up on Thursday.
@Thumper: I mentioned the poor planning in a blog over the weekend and got shot down in flames by the College brigade. they do travel in style I have to say and maybe enjoy the Pmb-Pta road…who knows. Looking at PBHS, they are sure to get a result at PBHS on Friday. If not there will be many questions being asked. On the question of College playing at Jeppe, the invitations went out for the Jeppe 125th Festival well over a year ago, so this is where slick organisation and planning is required….build ones domestic fixtures around the festivals one has accepted to attend. If my memory serves me correctly College played at the Wildeklawer Festival last year so a festival in mid term is nothing new to them I would think? And next year I hear they will be off down to Wynberg for their 175th sports festival around the same time. And added to this a full sports exchange is on the cards with Wynberg ……..big call, big distance for one game of rugby/hockey, let alone the cost to the poor parents…..makes one think doesn’t it?
At the end of the day a school must do its best for its pupils. Michaelhouse manage players well and give their players a chance to play craven week. They are beating their far traveling local rivals at the moment. I also don’t see the value of stretching yourself if you don’t have to. Long may good player management and good results stay hand in hand.
@Redblack White: Ahhh some sanity at last, after all we are talking about our children here are we not! The last thing we want is young rugby players burning out before they are 25! In my opinion I am only interested in who we beat (Glenwood, Kearsney and hopefully Hilton on Saturday) not someone else’s opinion of who we could have beaten. If we really want to know who is the best team then set up a proper league like the Super 15 and then we will know. Otherwise it is all just fun and something for the fathers to banter about.
@oldschool: I agree with you in principle about who House plays and therefore where they are ranked, but I think that is planned and smart. Remember House doesn’t do the rankings and in my opinion isn’t playing for a ranking. What I don’t agree with is the assumption that because we haven’t played certain sides we will lose to them. Based on that logic we could beat anyone Glenwood or Kearsney lost to or beat. Lastly I agree that it was a good game played between 2 great schools!
@Redblack White: MHS are always fresh. In JHBurg they had 3 easy games when they could have tested themselves by playing Grey PE and Wynberg. They are managed well I must agree, got to question College playing at Jeppe and 4 days later in Pretoria, not good management that!!
The rankings are rarely accurate reflections of a team’s strength – you just need to look at all the different rankings out there to realise how inaccurate they are – the top 3 are generally always the same and the rest could be a thumb suck. They’re still good value for discussion and a bit of banter though.
I personally like the way MHS manage their season fixtures and doubt very much if rankings are even taken into account when they set them up.
What I don’t like is the arrogance of some supporters who use rankings and comparisons to put down other teams that have traveled much tougher challenges through the season – the old apples vs oranges thing …
@oldschool: @Thumper: I don’t agree with you guys. Remember that the rankings are incidental to the actual rugby season – House are not playing rugby for the rankings – they also have other traditional fixtures against other independent schools. Lets not knock them for managing their fixtures wisely.
I respect the way House manage their players, after all, this is schoolboy rugby.
So, if College are unable to beat House this year, can we really blame our tougher fixtures vs tougher opponents ? – where is the benefit of testing yourself against tougher opponents if you are unable to beat your traditional rivals – if anything, by that logic, House should be on the receiving end from al the other KZN sides who have improved their games by testing themselves against the biggies. Nah – I don’t buy it.
@oldschool: I agree, MHS play very weak opposition outside of KZN. They play fewer games than most schools. MHS don’t have Ville this year. They should test themselves against Grey Bloem, Affies, Kes, Grey PE etc, etc.
sorry , not Schoonspruit …Windhoek HS….
It was a great game of school boy rugby , could have gone either way , this very young Kearsney side has boxed above there weight this season , playing with 7/8 grade 11s in each game .
I think , after watching the wilderklawer games on Monday , that it is very flattering to MHS to be ranked in the top 10 this year , they have a very weak fixture list and in my opinion this side would get slaughtered by their co ranked top 10 teams .
If KC had played the MHS fixtures up until now ( St Stithians and Schoonspruit are second tier , and a very weak Helpmekaar) , where would they be ranked ? probably top 15 after a single loss to House ?
And if MHS had played KCs fixtures … Grey College , Selbourne , NoordKaap and Dale ….where would they be ranked ?
Again , it is very Flattering to the kZN schools to even be ranked in the top 15 most years due to our weaker fixture list …only Gwood , College and at times Kearsney and the Ville should be considered on theses lists as the other KZN schools are never really tested ….
I believe last years MHS side was better than this years side , however , they played tougher opposition …Glenwood and College were very strong last year as was Grey PE which they lost to all 3 by small margins … resulting in a lower ranking …
However , I don’t want to take anything away from the game on Saturday , it was a SBR spectacle (by KZN standards ) …well done to both teams !!