The coldest part of winter is yet to come and even the shortest day of the year but for most KZN schools Saturday marks the end of the KZN inter-schools season.
Kearsney vs Clifton
Clifton pulled off a good win at George Campbell last year to earn the right to play in this 1st XV game for a second year running, with the Campbell 1sts now relegated to 2nd XV curtain-raiser. This will be a tough assignment for Clifton, who is still a very young high school with no boarding establishment. The positive is that rugby progress still on the upward curve at the Morningside school. The match is at Kearsney on Old Boys Day, so Kearsney will be incentivised to perform well plus it’s will be the last game in the one-striped maroon jersey for many of their players. Clifton would probably need a 60 point head start to stand a chance of winning.
St Charles vs St Alban’s
St Charles celebrates their Old Boys Days and can expect St Alban’s to be a handful. Against DHS last week St Charles fell off a few crucial first time tackles which cost them dearly in a scrappy match, but they did produce some magical moments which cut the lead to 20-29 at one stage before two late tries had DHS winning 39-20. So the bottom-line is they need more urgency on defence and more designs to get the ball into the hands of their game-breakers who clearly have the ability to influence the scoring. St Alban’s are the favourites to spoil the party here.
Maritzburg College vs Westville
With it being Reunion Day at College, this promises to be a humdinger on a packed Goldstones. College beat Westville 13-0 on Bowdens earlier in the season by a score that didn’t provide a true reflection of just how dominant the Red Black White was that day. Since then however College seemed to have lost their ability to go wide with any sort of impact, while Westville has come to terms with demons that seemed haunted a few of their performances and as a result are playing a lot more constructive rugby and are on a winning streak. It’s a difficult one to call but Westville should have their noses in front by the time the final whistle sounds if they play to their true potential.
Michaelhouse vs Hilton
As usual the atmosphere for this game will be amazing and the pre-game high quality blazer spelling is always something to look forward to. Michaelhouse stands the chance of ending 2015 with a 100% record, which has not been achieved by a House team in over 100 years. Last week Michaelhouse made the difficult look easy with a comprehensive 34-8 win away at College. The concern for Hilton has to be that Michaelhouse achieved this win without too much aid from their flashy backline, who have generally been a lot more prominent this season. Hilton will be the underdogs by a reasonable spread of 20 points, so if they want to stand a chance they have to do a few things better than they did in the last meeting which they only lost 18-24 but by a scoreline that flatters them a lot. The first is adjust hastily to the House high tempo by identify and close down the spaces quickly as defenders. Michaelhouse loves varying their points of attack and this unpredictability that tends to get them over the advantage line way too easily. The second thing for Hilton is do more exciting things with the ball on attack. There are untapped resources available to Hilton and as much as they’ll want to keep things as tight as possible and play a high percentage game on Saturday, they need bold elements of surprise that can eat away at the Michaelhouse confidence. Thirdly with the Michaelhouse backline almost guaranteed to up their involvement on Meadows, Hilton’s at times aimless kicking out of hand and poor kick-chase won’t cut it and could be punished quite severely by counter-attacking. Finally look after possession – starving strong opponents of the ball is still the best form of defence.
Remembering Michaelhouse vs Hilton 1991
The up until then unbeaten Michaelhouse team containing a host of Natal Schools representatives just never got going and saved their worst performance of the season for the big derby. The self-belief in Hilton 1991 team that day was palpable. Many had played together through our age-group years with dreams of wearing our great school’s first team jersey. Some were wearing the White jersey for the last time that day and knew they had an opportunity to do something special in front of close to 10 000 people at Meadows that day. Sven Koenig controlling things for Hilton, who were a smaller much less fancied team. A great, well worked try by Birdy Austin and some cool-as-ice place kicking by PJ “Klippies” Swanson clinched it. Hilton grinded out a 12-7 win.
Teams:
| MICHAELHOUSE | HILTON | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Cook | CW | 1 | Mark Holdsworth | |
| 2 | Rob Strachan | 2 | Herb Pedley | CW | |
| 3 | Ncgebo Zungu | CW | 3 | Anton Jooste | |
| 4 | Lyall Rushton | 4 | Craig du Preez | ||
| 5 | Cade Russell | CW | 5 | Justin Truter | |
| 6 | Mark Farren or Greg Kerr | 6 | Brett Austin | ||
| 7 | Jason Wesson | 7 | Ian Holde | ||
| 8 | Stuart Butcher | 8 | Craig Gibson(C) | ||
| 9 | Anthony Ireland | CW 92 | 9 | Angus Simpson | |
| 10 | Dake Benkenstein (C) | 10 | Sven Koenig(VC) | ||
| 11 | Andrew Bates | 12 | Paul Fischer** | ||
| 12 | Brett Davidson | CW | 13 | Dumisani Kunene | |
| 13 | Jason Eckstrand | 11 | Victor Compton | ||
| 14 | Nigel Williamson | CW | 14 | Bo Molotlegi | |
| 15 | Oliver Harvey | CW | 15 | PJ Swanson |
From the Michaelhouse Rector’s newsletter
his is the weekend of the 20th June so it must be time for the Derby – as though we needed reminding! It has been quite clear for some time given the discussions and planning that has gone on that we meet for the 193rd time to play Rugby against the old “enemy” (the first being in 1904) and the 66th time to play Hockey (the first recorded fixture was in 1948, which was a curtain-raiser to a club game), though there are reports of staff and boy games going back to the 1930s. Furthermore, we have been assailed by newspaper reporters wanting snippets on this and that, as well as information. I suspect given the nature of the Rugby season in particular that we may have a few people here on Saturday.
This will be the 62nd year that we theoretically meet on Meadows, as the old First XV field was Baileys. I say theoretically as there are no records of where the “single-headers” have taken place over the years (the years in which they occurred are mentioned below) and some of the missing games were home fixtures. The 1952 game was the last that was played on Baileys as a decision was taken after that to establish the new venue of Meadows, this given the large crowds that had started gathering, and which could not be accommodated on the old field. So this excitement about the fixture is not a new phenomenon. Interestingly enough I discussed Baileys recently with previous Rector Pennington who remembers distinctly running on there for the 1st XV. He describes it with great fondness. I am sure all the boys that play for the teams on Meadows and Aitkens will feel the same way when they are in their 90’s one day! This is also the 15th time we meet on Aitkens as we moved in 2001 from Knights, which is now the site of the Indoor Centre.
Interestingly enough we have always had a double header against Hilton apart from the years 1957, 1970, 1984 (due to a flu outbreak), 1989, 1991, 1997, 1999 and 2010 (due to a thunderstorm which brought the home fixture to a premature close). So we played through both wars which is fairly unusual for a fixture of this magnitude. Of the 193 clashes we have won 97, lost 86 and drawn 10 so the “bottom line” is very tight. We are also slightly ahead in total points – 2 265 vs 2 084. The biggest Rugby win was on a fine occasion in 1910 (51-0) and the biggest loss was in 2013 (which I remember distinctly) at 42-12. Both schools have had the same biggest winning streak at 7, ours being between 2007 and 2010 and that of Hilton being between 1926 and 1929.
1st hockey beat The highly rated College team 2 – 0, well played boys!
@pk terrier: I’d disregard the comments, there’s so much tongue in cheek here it looks like a family of chipmunks.
who ever is saying Westville is the top team in kzn please explain how you get to that ? my common sense tells me that house takes that title hands down
Michaelhouse the top side in the country – easily!
@Bush: Westville the top side in KZN
@Gungets Tuft: Coooolllleeeeggggee
College 16, Westville 12
Happy to see this becoming a duel fixture every year and showing that College has great respect for Westville to want to play us twice a year. Excellent results for the U15A this morning – well played boys!
Westville by 10 & House by 20!
Shouldn’t be more than 5 points in it, but, I think College have their noses in front on their Reunion Day.
I’ll put my bucks on Westville
I have watched Westville a few times this year and have been very impressed – strong running backs good handling and a very strong pack
The ‘ville earned my respect when they beat a very motivated Glenwood
on Dixons – one of the best games this year – cant see College taking this one – but being reunion day who knows what will happen
Hilton number 14 in the 1991 team – Is that Prince Bothatha Molotlegi of the Royal Bafokeng Nation?
Good luck to all the KZN boys playing their last game of the season this weekend. All the best to the grade 12 boys, who are playing their last game of SBR. Thanks to all the coaches and refs. Hilton I am sure will give House a run and they will not make it easy. Westville I am sure will give College a good go and I am looking forward to the Old Boys day. Westville could be the old boy day killers this year if they beat College.
Going to be a tough day for MC at Goldstones. As long as the boys can put the hype of old boys day aside, and play to their true potential this could be another spectacular clash – the makings of another 2013 reunion day clash. The 50 they took a few years back will not be playing on anyone’s mind so is not a factor.
Give it horns College!
Same sentiment for House on Meadows – forget about the record and play the way you can – House by 30 if they do this.
I think that WV may just have the upper hand over MC. Their huge win there a few years back will give them huge confidence. But again, College on Goldstones on Old boys day is a huge task.
Michaelhouse have had a brilliant season and should win their match IMO. Not having a go at them, but what a pity they couldn’t have played a Grey Coll or such. With their team they could have possibly won a match like that and shut the likes of me up having beaten the better schools.
I am in Camperdown celebrating a Westman 50th, so I might just find myself at Goldstones in the afternoon. Greenblooded….sneak me a College Pepsi please