Westville Boys’ 1st XV remain on course for several grand achievements in 2025, thanks to a pulsating 33–28 home win over strong local rivals, Durban High School.
The high-scoring match doesn’t do justice to the defensive efforts from both schools. Relentless pressure on both sides paved the way for crucial errors — some of which led to the most memorable tries of the game, as boys sometimes caved under the intensity of the occasion.
Westville made their biggest impact on either side of halftime, turning a narrow 13–11 lead into a 27–11 advantage by crossing for their second and third tries. DHS, who had scored a single five-pointer in the first half, responded admirably with three more tries to snatch the lead at 28–27. With momentum on their side, they looked the stronger of the two teams as the match entered its final minutes.
However, while Westville succeeded with all their conversions, DHS only managed to land one — and in the end, that proved telling. Westville kept their composure and closed the game out with two more penalties. A real thriller, played in front of a full house at Bowden’s Field.
Beyond being a hard-fought interschools derby between two of South Africa’s top schoolboy rugby sides for 2025, the match carried added significance in terms of bragging rights. The victory has increased Westville’s chances of going down in the history books as KZN’s best 1st XV for the year. DHS earned that honour in 2024, following a stellar season. For Westville, it appears one has to go all the way back to 2004 to find their last taste of top provincial glory.
The win also keeps Westville on course to finish inside the national Top 10 rankings — a feat they have not achieved since 2013.
But without doubt, the big one remains the piece of immortality that comes with the rare achievement of an unbeaten season. In this millennium, it seems only Michaelhouse (2015), Hilton (2018) and Glenwood, the national title contenders of 2018, have managed that milestone in KZN. It’s a similarly elusive feat on the national stage, where only the top dogs — like the great Grey College — and a select few others crowned SA’s number one ranked team have been able to pull it off.
KZN Champions (unconfirmed)
| YEAR | WINNERS |
| 2000 | Maritzburg College |
| 2001 | Maritzburg College |
| 2002 | Maritzburg College |
| 2003 | Maritzburg College |
| 2004 | Westville |
| 2005 | Maritzburg College |
| 2006 | Glenwood/Kearsney/Maritzburg College |
| 2007 | Glenwood |
| 2008 | Glenwood/Michaelhouse |
| 2009 | Glenwood |
| 2010 | Glenwood |
| 2011 | Glenwood |
| 2012 | Michaelhouse |
| 2013 | Kearsney |
| 2014 | Glenwood |
| 2015 | Michaelhouse |
| 2016 | Glenwood |
| 2017 | * |
| 2018 | Glenwood/Hilton |
| 2019 | Glenwood |
| 2020 | Covid |
| 2021 | Covid |
| 2022 | Hilton |
| 2023 | Michaelhouse |
| 2024 | Durban HS |
| 2025 |
* 2017 was too difficult to determine
@Vleis (Comment #10)
No definitely, an amazing achievement. A real pity there was not official game vs Glenwood that year.
@Vleis (Comment #8)
Sorry, I mixed my years up. Hilton was indeed undefeated in 2018 but lost to Bishops in an end of season ISRF game. They lost to St Andrew’s in 2019, not 2018.
@Grasshopper (Comment #9)
There is no doubt that Glenwood were top dogs in KZN in 2018 by a country mile, as they were unbeaten in a long season and played against many top schools from all over the country (incl. GCB, Affies, Klofies, Kwaggas, Monnas, Stellenberg, etc). Hilton played against KZN teams who were pretty mediocre that year and out of province teams who were mostly less than mediocre (e.g. Rhino USA, St David’s, St John’s).
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That said….it’s still a wonderful achievement to have an unbeaten season, so I take my hat off to them. As Westville will find out, the pressure becomes very intense during the last few games – especially with all the opposition schools wanting to be the ones that prevent a perfect season.
In 2018 Hilton might have been unbeaten but we all know Glenwood were the top dogs in KZN that year. Hilton played buffered fixture lists avoiding any of the Top 10 or even Top 20
@Skywalker (Comment #6)
@vonke_44 (Comment #1)
In fact, Hilton was undefeated in 2019**, not 2018 where they lost to St Andrew’s at the Kingswood 125th festival. They also lost a pre-season game to Glenwood in 2018, but I don’t think that result counted.
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** Hilton did lose an ISRF game v Bishops in 2019, but most people/websites/etc do not count ISRF results for the season statistics.
@grasshopper Glenwood played well on Saturday from what i saw. Massive clash and looked very good against NW. It was a 2 point game, with Glenwood on the attack with about 1 minute of normal time left on the clock. NW scored 2 tries in the last 2 minutes to pull away. The score doesnt reflect the truth. This game was close and NW were a bit lucky to get the win. Glenwood had a 5m line out they botched on the NW line with a few minutes left that could have given them the win perhaps. Credit to them, and the age groups results were good for them too. I am worried a bit about our juniour results. Our u16A team have lost a few now and our u14 age group seems weak again. Next year we should be OK again but after that? Need a pipeline, and compared to westville and DHS ours is severely lacking.
@vonke_44 (Comment #1)
I recall Hilton also going unbeaten in 2019?
Well done to Westville. I didnt see the game but by all acounts it lived up to expectations. I said Westville would be tested over the last 4 gamnes, and they have stood up to the test and managed to win those close games in the end, which is the mark of a great team. Well done.
WELL DONE WESTVILLE
15 YEARS OF SETTING THE STANDARD…
@vonke_44 (Comment #1)
Thank you. Well spotted. I’m not sure why I don’t remember that one. I think Glenwood’s season was amazing that year and maybe overshadowed all else.
Great write up and stats thanks Beet. Were Hilton not also unbeaten in 2018?