Overview Sporting Achievements
The last weekend of winter sporting fixtures saw Maritzburg College take on long-time rivals from Glenwood for a full round of rugby and hockey matches. Our hockey teams had a great day winning all of their matches against Glenwood, while the rugby teams had some tough and hard fought games.
College’s Golf, Squash, Canoeing and Soccer teams also posted good results.
Rugby
College fielded 20 rugby teams with 17 of the matches being against Glenwood and three against Estcourt. College won 16 of their matches overall, including good wins for the U14A, U15A, and U16A, and narrow losses for our 1st and 2nd XV teams.
1st XV match report – Mr Tim Orchard (1st XV coach)
Glenwood held out against a late comeback from Maritzburg College to continue their dominance in the KwaZulu-Natal derby in Pietermaritzburg on Saturday. Having led 22-5 at half time, Glenwood were made to sweat on defence and Maritzburg launched a brave comeback effort, scoring three late tries to see the game end 28-22 to the visitors.
Tries from scrumhalf Dyllan Beukes and wing Renaldo le Fleur gave Glenwood a 17-0 lead in the first half, before inside centre Andile Myeni dotted down just close to half time, with flyhalf Drico Marx slotting two second-half penalties to extend the visitors’ advantage. College hit back with a well worked maul that rumbled over the Glenwood tryline with Kyle Wilken coming up clutching the ball.
The second started with Glenwood extending their lead with a penalty kick from the boot of Drico Marx before College hit back with Elbie Mouton crashing over in the left-hand corner after a smart lineout move. The game was all College as they looked to score next, but a series of breakdown infringements resulted in Glenwood extending their lead further with another penalty to take the score to 28-10.
Maritzburg College and SA U18 outside centre Lili Bester crossed the whitewash to make it a contest and the hosts then piled on the pressure, winning penalty after penalty in the final five minutes. No 8 Sasha Kadira burst over from a quick-tap penalty, but it was too little, too late as time ran out on the clock to complete the comeback.
College 22
Tries: Kyle Wilken, Elbie Mouton, Lihle Bester, Sasha Kadira
Conversions: AJ Knoetze x1
Glenwood 28
Summary of Results:
| Team | Opposition | Result | Score |
| 1st | Glenwood | Lost | 22-28 |
| 2nd | Glenwood | Lost | 8-10 |
| 3rd | Glenwood | Won | 13-12 |
| 4th | Glenwood | Lost | 10-15 |
| 5th | Glenwood | Won | 17-5 |
| 6th | Estcourt 1st | Won | 22-5 |
| 16A | Glenwood | Won | 24-0 |
| 16B | Glenwood | Won | 20-0 |
| 16C | Glenwood | Won | 15-5 |
| 16D | Estcourt U16A | Won | 27-10 |
| 16D | Glenwood U16D | Won | 20-19 |
| 15A | Glenwood | Won | 14-0 |
| 15B | Glenwood | Won | 15-12 |
| 15C | Glenwood | Won | 29-12 |
| 15D | Glenwood | Won | 50-0 |
| 14A | Glenwood | Won | 38-0 |
| 14B | Glenwood | Won | 22-5 |
| 14C | Glenwood | Won | 22-14 |
| 14D | Glenwood | Won | 24-0 |
| 14E | Estcourt U14A | Lost | 0-48 |
Hockey
College’s hockey players produced an excellent set of results against Glenwood, winning all 8 of their games. Overall, the Red Army won 9 of the 10 games played and drew just one.
1st XI match report – Kyle Emerson (1st XI coach)
The final fixture of the season was an emotional day for the matrics in the team as the chapter of their hockey journey at College came to an end. It was important that the team played with clear minds and ensured that the emotions did not detract from their performance. The first game between the two teams, which was back in May, ended 3-2 to College and it was a physical game which saw College fail to take enough of their opportunities.
College started the game well and showed their earlier superiority, both tactically and technically. Glenwood were strong in defence and did well to keep the home team from scoring in the first quarter. The goalkeeper made numerous saves and the ball flashed past the goals on a few occasions. College remained patient as they edged closer to that opening goal, and late in the second quarter, Matthew Ponter’s drag flick hit the post. It was moments before half time that Uyanda Dlamini beat his defender on the right and did well to carry the ball to the baseline and when he passed it across the goal the ball deflected off a Glenwood defender into the goals.
The chances kept coming in the second half and it was great team work and ball movement that allowed Julian Konigkramer and Siviwe Sithembu to get the second and third goals. Alex Styan scored a deflection at a penalty corner for the fourth goal, and College probably felt that they left many more goals on the field. That said, it was a compete performance from the home team who showed what they are capable of when they play with full hearts and clear minds.
A fitting end to a season which has seen the team continue to improve and play with more character and unity as the season went on.
Summary of Results:
| Team | Opponents | Result | Score |
| 1st | Glenwood | Won | 4-0 |
| 2nd | Glenwood | Won | 4-0 |
| 3rd | Glenwood | Won | 10-0 |
| 4th | Estcourt 1st | Won | 10-0 |
| 16A | Glenwood | Won | 6-0 |
| 16B | Glenwood | Won | 11-1 |
| 16C | Glenwood | Won | 10-0 |
| 14A | Glenwood | Won | 7-0 |
| 14B | Glenwood | Won | 6-0 |
| 14C | Estcourt 14A | Drew | 0-0 |
Other Sport
Golf
Following the KZN golf trials held over the weekend, College had three boys selected for KZN teams.
KZN A: Luke Akerman and James Truter
KZN B: Chad Newman
Squash
College’s squash teams were involved in various fixtures during the course of last week. The 2nd team played against a strong Michaelhouse side on Wednesday, losing 2-8. The Juniors also played against Michaelhouse on Thursday, recording an impressive 8-4 victory. College’s 1st team played against Pretoria Boys’ High, who were on a tour of KZN. After some closely contested matches and high quality squash, College ran out 6-4 winners.
Canoeing
There were good results from College’s canoeists for the KZN Schools K1 River Champs at the Tugela 20s this weekend:
U18
Joshua Glyn-Cuthbert – 2nd
James Sharpe – 4th
Ian Hemmingway – 7th
U16
Jayden Jansen Van Rensberg – 4th
U14
Keegan Vogt – 2nd
Scott Venniker – 3rd
Soccer
A massive congratulations to the 32 College boys who, following trials, have been selected to represent PMB High Schools’ Football Association at the upcoming KwaZulu-Natal High Schools’ Football Association Inter-District tournaments, which double as the provincial trials. College boys make up 50% of the Pmb teams across the four age groups for the tournaments taking place at Kingsway High School on 14 and 28 August.