Port Natal has won the right to play against the Glenwood and Hilton 1st XV’s this season.
The White Knights traveled to George Campbell’s beautiful grounds at North Beach in Durban on Saturday, 08 March and came away with a hard fought 18-13 win after 70-minutes filled with memorable moments. For either team the victory alone in what is usually a tough inter-schools fixture to win would have been cause for celebration. There was however more to the result. Due to the two schools having a twinning arrangement in place for fixtures against both Glenwood and Hilton, it means that Port Natal now gets the first team games while George Campbell will take on the second teams at the same venue on the same day.
Not all the highlights of this entertaining match resulted in points. Some of the best plays of the game had spectators out of their seats due to good build-ups with their teams coming so very close to scoring tries on a number of occasions.
The schools had to settle for a tryless first half though, deadlocked at 6-all thanks to two penalties apiece by respective kickers flyhalf D. Smith of Porties and fullback A. Grotius of Campbell.
The Campbell backline showed huge improvement. After the showing at the Night Series during February, one would have been happy to see them master the basics but during this game the backs not only handled and passed the ball well, they a bits of creativity to launch effective attacks. Praise must go to Campbell assistant coach and former pro rugby player Trompie Nontshinga for his work in this regard. George Campbell left wing S. Biyana twice came close to scoring after receiving well disguised passes from flyhalf N.Sibiya and centre N. Ngubane. Campbell scrumhalf C.Botha continued to deliver good service from the base. The area of Campbell play most in need of attention now is the breakdown, they conceded far too many penalties for infringements and offsides calls.
Tries did come in the second half.
Port Natal grabbed an 11-6 lead with a special try by outside centre C.Gaffney. He retreated and picked up a ball that had landed behind the backline after being badly passed. From there he proceeded to make something out of nothing. Speed and amazing stepping ability got him home in the right corner. Thanks to some dedicated work put in by both player and coaches, Gaffney has come a long way since joining Port Natal and now stands an outside chance of representing the Sharks under-19 team in the junior Currie Cup this year.
Not to be outdone, George Campbell’s outside centre T. Mamba produced a magical individual try of his own shortly after the restart. He confidently backed his pace and weaved brilliantly through traffic, beating numerous tackles in the process. What a try it was! It was converted by fullback A. Grotius, handing Campbell a 13-11 lead.
Porties had a couple of very exciting plays during the second half. Lightning quick right wing K.Terblanche who had just clocked 10.7s for the 100m at an athletics meeting days before, used this pace to great effect but a foot on the touchline prevented his dive over from counting as a try. Later on Fullback G. Prins skilfully chipped over a defender and recollected the ball. He then backed himself when speedster Terblanche was free on the inside and got caught from behind.
The Port Natal pack played very well on the day. As usual no.8 A. Nortje was technically very good and made useful contributions. It was however the locks LC Bierman and C. Sonnekus that really stood out. Well-built Bierman had some very powerful ball carries and it was the 2m tall Sonnekus that was on hand to barge over and score the winning try in the second half. D. Smith added the conversion and unfortunately for George Campbell their beautiful new rugby scoreboard reflected 18-13 to the visitors at fulltime. Nevertheless it was enjoyable game to watch and played in good spirit.
| GEORGE CAMPBELL | PORT NATAL | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | R Dippenaar | Andre Janse van Rensburg |
| 2 | M Shange | Wayne Wesson |
| 3 | R Zondi | Frans van Rensburg |
| 4 | S Ndlovu | LeClue Bierman |
| 5 | R du Preez | Charl Sonnekus |
| 6 | B Visser | Ruan Smook |
| 7 | J Marais | Ewlth Kok |
| 8 | C Correia | Andre Nortje |
| 9 | C Botha | Frans Janse van Niewenhuis |
| 10 | N Sibiya | Duanne Smit |
| 11 | S Biyana | Dean Badenhorst |
| 12 | N Ngubane | Zander White |
| 13 | T Mamba | Chestwin Gaffley |
| 14 | I Nkomo | Karl Terblanche |
| 15 | A Grotius | Ghano Prins |
disappointing for us and well done to porties. we just have to take this on the chin
You have to earn the right to play tier one ! If they have then good luck to them ! Port Natal have always had a motivated and often large side but might be a bit short in depth but lets see how they go and play your hearts out against Cambell boys – you have nothing to loose and a fair bit to gain !
There is talent at Porties and good on them getting games against tier1 schools. May this continue. Karl Terblanche is a seriously talented boy who could go on to selection for a representitive side this year. He has represented DRSU at u16 and u18 level with distinction. Was the highest try scorer at the 2013 IPT held in Pretoria. Watch this space.