Saturday 28 August 2021
After a long break, it was with great anticipation and excitement that College’s 1st and 2nd XV teams travelled up to Hilton this weekend.
With some horrendous weather conditions, including rain and even sleet and snow, temperatures plummeted to near zero, but our boys hung in, winning the match 14-10.
1st team match report – Cameron Fraser 1st XV coach
On Saturday the Maritzburg College 1st XV resumed their abbreviated 2021 season in atrocious weather conditions against Hilton College at Hilton. The conditions obviously did not make for the most attractive brand of rugby to be played and players had to have their wits about them to eventually dominate territory stats. College managed to build up a solid lead in the 2nd quarter of the game with two easy penalties being slotted by AJ Knoetze to leave the score at 6 – 0 to College. Hilton managed to gain the territorial ascendancy for a short while, poor discipline cost the boys from the borough and Hilton scored a penalty before halftime to leave the scores at 6-3.
Early on in the 2nd half, some brutal College defence managed to dislodge the ball from a tackle and Corbin Thunder, the College captain, snaffled the ball, after which he made a well-executed lob pass to the outside centre Lusanda Mtshali who ran in the first try of the match. Knoetze failed to convert the try. Hilton hit back with a try after 5 minutes after launching a destructive maul attack from which the Hilton flyhalf managed to beat a College defender to score underneath the poles.
The match was very tight with both sides employing kicking tactics – happy to concede possession as this meant a mistake from the opposition in most cases. College once again dominated territorially with superb kicking out of hand from the halfback pairing Knoetze and James Beauclerk. With 10 minutes left Knoetze stabbed through a rolling kick chased by Spha Ngcobo, the College fullback, but he could unfortunately not re-gather and ground the ball over the line. Ill-discipline cost Hilton dearly with 4 minutes to spare and Knoetze managed to slot home another penalty.
College managed to hold on with watertight defence and great physicality from their forwards to eventually win the match 14-10. A memorable match in the worst possible conditions but a massive result for the College rugby fraternity.