Thoughts on Hilton vs Michaelhouse game

With probably over 10000 people in attendance, Hilton’s Gilfillan field had this sort of mini amphitheatre feel about it.  The atmosphere throughout the game was incredible but probably peaked just prior to kickoff. Reason, Hilton and Michaelhouse have taken blazer spelling productions to a new level. It will eventually wear off when every school jumps on the bandwagon but for now it’s a novelty and crowds are soaking it up and loving it. On this occasion the supporters from both teams streamed onto the field with their digital electronic devices to take up preferential positions for the pregame show. In a way it’s good to see the boys in the stands becoming attractions on matchday as well. They certainly put a lot of time and effort into war cries and these new improved synchronised acts.

As an overall whole package the match itself gets the double thumbs up. Those that came from far got their money’s worth. For the best part of an hour it was a high quality match with all the ingredients of a derby.

The first half was superb. Michaelhouse were the better team in most respects. They totally out-scrummed Hilton, their lineout was functioned better, they looked stronger around the fringes, were more creative and made better progress with the ball in hand.They kept the scoreboard ticking. 19 points in 35-minutes is good work in a match of this nature. It’s probably something that gets mentioned every week in House circles but again Rob Anderson was the catalyst of promising developments including House’s only try, with some good decision-making. When he didn’t have the ball, try scorer Josh Moon was giving defenders grief. The no.8’s speed and strength seem to catch opponents out time and time again. Hats off the the Michaelhouse props Chris Whitting and Cameron Holenstein as well . No outsider would ever have guessed that these two players are under injury free conditions not the first choice props. Captain Justin Moberly also deserves a mention. The big ball-carrier has an unbelievable workrate and was just about the only player that looked to get stronger over the 70-minutes.  

When Hilton tactical kicks descended in front of House players, this usually resulted in first-rate runs back up field with carriers often evading the attentions of kick-chasers. However where Hilton tactics kicks landed in behind Michaelhouse, it was a different story. The red hooped jerseys struggled to defuse these situations and put themselves under self inflicted pressure at times. The visitors also appeared to have a vulnerable defensive system guarding their left flank when near their own try-line in the first half, which cost them dearly.

Both Hilton tries were scored by right wing Mark Gunn in the first half. Both were started by well placed kicks, the first a grubber by flyhalf Simon Purdon and the second by fullback Greg Morris. For the first try Hilton managed to force a lineout near the House try line. They retained possession and then showed some good handling skills as they worked the ball around on their right-hand short side before the space was freed up for Gunn to go over. The home team’s second try resulted from a bit of Michaelhouse panic when the visitors attempted a quick lineout deep in their own half and eventually had to watch Anderson’s clearance kick charged down from well inside the in-goal area. From the ensuring 5-metre scrum almost in the middle of the field, the uncontrolled ball seemed to pop out the back and sit up nicely for Cameron Wright to run onto. He used this fortuitous upper-hand to good effect by quickly attacking the big blindside. By simply letting the ball do the talking with good passing and handling, Hilton were able to score on the outside.

These two tries were a good representation of the three areas that Hilton excelled in. Firstly they played as a team, sharing the workload. Yes Cameron Wright kicked 6 from 6 on the day and Sebastian Negri displayed a much appreciated specialised skill when it came to collecting balls out of the air from restarts but generally the Hilton boys did not stand out as individuals but rather as a collective unit, each chipping in with a positive contribution when it was required.  Secondly they capitalised on their opportunities. Two good field positions in the first half were converted into 5-pointers in the blink of an eye. Even when the open play wasn’t going their way in the first half, their ability to come away with points from good field positions was admirable. Finally their defensive reorganisation was sharp, allowing them to consolidate especially when the first line of “D” didn’t do its job.

The exciting half ended with a magnificently taken textbook drop-goal by Anderson. His head-down over the ball technique was impressive and so was the elevation he achieved from the strike which saw it just-just rising above and over the approaching potential charge-downer. This handed Michaelhouse a 19-17 lead at the break. Anderson had also contributed three penalties to Wright’s one by that point in the game.

The half-time break was good to Hilton. The problems in the set-pieces were sorted out. They had more possession and their strategic kicking game was a lot better. Unfortunately as the game wore on it became more and more of a start-stop affair. The situation wasn’t helped by the delayed kickoff at the start, as the poor light had an impact on quality towards the end. Mistakes and penalisable offences brought the referee’s whistle into the game a lot more and killed off continuity big time. No tries were scored in this half. It was Hilton that continued to make more of their chances though. They landed their first of three successive penalties in the 3^rd minute of the second half to regain the lead and never looked back. By the 15^th minute they were up 26-19.

Michaelhouse struck back with an Anderson penalty of their own a few minutes later but by then the natural flowing and creativity mode that had made their style of play so pleasing to watch had disappeared completely and been replaced by more forced and indecisive patterns.

It ended 26-22. A tremendous spirit could be felt all around the ground. Final verdict : a great game of rugby to watch.

Hilton team: 1 M Haynes, 2 C De Beer (C), 3 P Lee, 4 S Negri, 5 M Hoole, 6 C Taylor, 7 G Pappas, 8 C Prowse, 9 C Wright, 10 S Purdon, 11 J Richmond, 12 T Fainsinger, 13 C Smith, 14 M Gunn, 15 G Morris

Michaelhouse team:1 C Holenstein, 2 S Hartman, 3 C Whitting, 4 A Pienaar, 5 J Moberly (C), 6 L Strachan, 7 M Fenn, 8 J Moon, 9 C Brits, 10 R Anderson, 11 K Harrison, 12 D Stephen, 13 C Furniss, 14 B Arnott, 15 G Loubser-Hattingh