Flyhalf and captain Tristan Tedder scored all 19 points via a try, a conversion and four penalties as hosts Kearsney were made to work extra hard for their 19-11 win against Northwood.
As expected Northwood inspired by the quality performances of their two impressive former SA under-16 props Ngoni Chidoma and Kabelo Motloung (now both under-18) and surrounded by a number of other big teammate forwards, dominated the exchanges up front. Perhaps with a little more self-belief in their own ability the Knights might well have made even better use of their advantages in this vital facet of the game, turned more of their possession into points and walked away with the spoils. Three good chances came their way.
Making life even more difficult for the home team was the presence of big centre Dawid Weersma at inside centre. Weersma put in a few big hits, helping to keep Kearsney honest in one of their favourite attacking channels.
Just like last season, Northwood’s downfall appeared to be their lack of a balanced all-round game. Where their forwards were excellent, the backs lacked the same kind of authoritativeness and in spite of being offered good front-foot ball, they did little to challenge the Kearsney defence when going wide.
Kearsney showed a lot guts amongst the forwards. In spite of being outsized they also kept their wits about them, never surrendering to any challenge in spite of the extra energy sapping effort required. Their resolve made the difference in the end.
The Kearsney backs looked capable of playing traditional running rugby but if the team wants their backs to be more effective as an offensive system they will have to work harder at speeding the game up and spacing out the points of breakdown in order to splinter defences.
Kearsney’s own defensive structures stood tall on the afternoon. Tristan Tedder led by example and was superb. He stopped numerous opponents in his track and even pulled off two amazing tackles in a single phase of play. It was reminiscent of the years when Henry Honiball played number-10 for the Sharks. The Kearsney pivot’s kicking out of hands was also of a very high standard.
The score was 9-6 in Kearsney’s favour at halftime with Tristan Tedder’s kicks being responded to his opposite number Nto Sibisi.
Shortly after the break Kearsney stretched their lead to more comfortable 16-6 when flyhalf Tedder combined his quickness off the mark with an alert rugby brain to outdo the Northwood defenders in the redzone. He then converted his own try.
Northwood’s response was quick. Sustained forwards pressure near the Kearsney try-line eventually paid dividends when flank Greg Slater forced his way over under a heap of bodies to make it 16-11 and give Northwood a crack at a winning try. Several good field positions came the visitors way after that in this second half but they were unable to capitalise.
At the other end, Kearsney missed three relatively difficult but convertible kicks at goal which would have made the game safe and then some.
Helped by Craven Week prop Tijde Visser, Kearsney had put up a brave challenge in the scrums and were rewarded with a couple of crucial scrumming penalties near the end. The first got them out of danger and from the next one Tedder made the game safe at 19-11, with his four successful penalty.
So possibly not the winning start new Northwood coach and former Sharks assistant coach Grant Bashford had hoped for but there were definitely signs of a far more competitive Northwood in 2014, which is a big plus for KZN school rugby.
For equally new Kearsney head coach, Francois Lubbe there was perhaps a bit of relief at the final whistle and most probably a lot of intel gathered on game plan adjustments required if his team is to improve on their ability to manage big packs going forward.
| KEARSNEY | NORTHWOOD | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tijde Visser | 1 | Ngoni Chidoma |
| 2 | Nicholas Luyt | 2 | Ntutuko Mthembu |
| 3 | Matthew Maddock | 3 | Kabelo Motlong |
| 4 | Khanyisani Xaba | 4 | Greg Slater |
| 5 | Tristan Dixon | 5 | Shane Kennedy |
| 6 | Anthony Quenet | 6 | Calvin Silson |
| 7 | Jesse Rich | 7 | Keegan Sparks |
| 8 | Patrick Zietkiewicz | 8 | Ross Muil (C) |
| 9 | James Hall | 9 | Kusiva Kazembe |
| 10 | Tristan Tedder (C) | 10 | Nto Sibisi |
| 11 | Brendan Vorster | 11 | Wallace de Lange |
| 12 | Sebastian Pau | 12 | Dawid Weersma |
| 13 | Kyle Ritchie | 13 | Piko Sobhale |
| 14 | James Tedder | 14 | Sassa Makhanya |
| 15 | Stefan Harris | 15 | Jaydon Stevens |
@Westers: Just shows how out dated crash and bash rugby is – when will the Bulls affiliated teams learn this? Great game and nice to see that Du Preez put his poor jnr world cup form behind him and turned in a very good performance – that last try was brilliant !
Just watched a great comeback from Maties against Tukkies.
Well done to Kearsney old boy Robert Du Preez. Man of the match and well deserved. Fantastic performance.
@oldschool: A good win-will take it.
Now for Westville. Need to get back to our performance against Pionier. The boys were slik and all contributed to some fine running rugby.
@Green Hopper: The Nwood pack is very well drilled and commited , there loosehead prop must weigh in at 120 kgs and got through a lot of work , carried the ball up well , there 6 and 8 were also very good on the day as was there 12 , big and strong and commited in D…… i don’t think these okes will be easy to beat , Glenwood will be way to strong though so will college from what has been said , but watch this space against the rest …i predict this side will upset some big name schools ! well done Northwood on a good performance !
@Green Hopper: The 2012 U16A Result was a slender 10-3 win for Kearsney.
Considering Northwood now have a professional coach and several imports since then, I don’t think Kearsney were expected to dominate.
I think that we need to give credit to Northwood for a game that was hard fought up front. It may have been a 19-11 win but had they not been so physical, it could have been a lot higher.
This side is no push over, excuse the pun, and will run some of the more fancied sides close. Under the guidance of Bashy, they are going to be very competitive.
As far as Kearsney goes, a win is a win and would take it any day. We were all aware of the threat of the big pack and they didn’t disappoint.
Westville this Saturday so things don’t get any easier. A tough 2 weeks lie ahead with the culmination of the Grey festival where they play the highly rated hosts. 2 days later PBHS. This should ready them for the KERF where we play Middleburg HTS in the opening fixture. LOVE RUGGER SEASON.
this result suprises me, ??I woudl have thought Kearsney would have dominated the Northwood side
especially when seeing the boys in the scrum and having seen them play
@RugbyDad: Thanks and changed. I don’t know if you remember Kings Park’s concrete East Stand before the 1995 RWC improvements. Well one could not see the try scorer in the right corner from that stand (view blocked by the concrete walkway) due to some sort of design flaw. Thats a little bit what its like to be on the Kearsney wooden stand with the visiting school sitting to left. Impossible to see the left corner tryline coz all the boys stand up and block the view.
@Beet: It was Slater that scored the try. Northwood have some work to do and lack of warm up game time definitely told in the end.
see you guys there . Am looking forward to the first home game of the season.
@Gungets Tuft: Gungets; 15:40PM is the 1st XV.
@RugbyDad: What time are the two matches. I have the PMB trip tomorrow but back by 2pm, will come down and support my 2nd school, and have some fond memories of Dave as his lighties play. He would have been quietly bursting with pride. Jen will very proud too.
@Gungets Tuft: Yes, both boys are playing. Ross captaining the 1st team and Todd Muil captaining the U15A. Dave would’ve been very proud of his boys. Was a mate of mine too.
@Dixon’s: Is Ross Muil the son of Dave Muil?
Business mate of mine, died about 6 months ago. Damn fine oke.
Ross Muil is a fantastic rugby player, i had the pleasure of coaching him at club level last season! good skills, pace and vision on the field… everything you could possibly want in a rugby player!