Overview Sporting Achievements
After 30 long months it was with great excitement and anticipation that the RedBlackWhite hockey and rugby teams took to the fields for our annual Maritzburg Day matches. Twenty five rugby teams were up against St Charles in the main, but with fillers against Howick, Voortrekker, Linpark and Westville. College dominated in all the games against St Charles with our 1st XV bringing home a 45-7 victory much to the delight of the many supporters gathered on Goldstones. All our 19 hockey fixtures were against St Charles, and saw our RedArmy bring home a 1-0 win on Pape’s Astro.
There was also some great canoeing, athletics and shooting actions from the College teams this weekend.
College’s 1st XV kneel before Basher Ridge to the tumultuous cheers of their supporters ahead of the first game of the season, and the first time back on a packed Goldstones in two years. College won the match convincingly against local rivals St Charles College 45-7.
Rugby
College won 19 of their 24 rugby games played, losing 5 which were all played on the stagger. Our 1st, 2nd, u16A, u15A and u14A teams enjoyed convincing wins – a great start to the winter season which saw many supporters gathering on Goldstones.
1st XV March Report (Mr Tim Orchard, 1st XV coach)
On Saturday Maritzburg College played host to St Charles for the first home game of the season in front of a packed crowd on Goldstones. Saturday was an auspicious occasion as it marked the first time in two years for the Maritzburg College 1st XV led by captain AJ Knoetze, to run out in front of a jam-packed Goldstones.
The match started off in relatively sedentary manner as both sides sought to feel each other out in the first quarter of the match. Litelihle Bester provided the spark that the match needed when he executed a move off the training paddock to score a relatively easy try, with the conversion coming from AJ Knoetze giving College the lead 7-0. College began to find some rhythm on attack and after waves of pressure, Knoetze kicked over a penalty kick to lengthen the lead to 10-0. St Charles began to find some purchase on attack and made a rare entry in the College 22m area, but a spilt pass allowed Spah Ngcobo to showcase what he can do in broken play. With some sublime footwork and electric acceleration, he raced away to score an awe-inspiring individual try. The resulting conversion was calmly knocked over by Knoetze which took the score to 17-0. Further College attacks were thwarted by the final pass going astray and the score remained the same until the referee brought an end to the half.
The second half also started off very slowly with numerous unforced errors from both sides preventing any real momentum. College slowly began to exert their dominance at line-out time, with a series of powerful line-out drives allowing the team to work its way deep into the St Charles half. From the resulting breakdown after a powerful carry from Liam Prinsloo, Litelihle Bester again walked over the tryline for a well-deserved try. The resulting conversion further lengthened College’s lead to 24 -0. Shortly afterwards Kuhann van den Berg finished off a well worked backline move to score in the lefthand corner which was duly converted to make the score 31-0. The game began to open up, but College was let down by numerous unforced errors when on the attack as they now camped in the St Charles half. From a scrum on the right-hand side of the St Charles half, Lithelihle Bester made a trademark breakthrough in the midfield to score his third try of the match. The score stood at 38-0 after the conversion was slotted over by Knoetze. With some slick interplay in broken play, Spah Ngcobo finished off a well worked team try to put the score at 45-0 after Knoetze once again kicked over the resulting conversion. St Charles did not give up and eventually scored a conciliation try right at the death making the score 45-7 when the final whistle sounded.
Summary of Scores:
| Team | Opposition | Venue | Result | |||
| 1st | St Charles | Goldstones | won | 45-7 | ||
| 2nd | St Charles | Goldstones | won | 21-10 | ||
| 3rd | Voortrekker 1st | Goldstones | won | 7-0 | ||
| 4th | Linpark 1st | Goldstones | won | 31-5 | ||
| 5th | St Charles 3rd | Goldstones | won | 19-12 | ||
| 6th | Howick 1st | Goldstones | lost | 5-8 | ||
| 7th | St Charles 4th | Lamonds | lost | 17-22 | ||
| 8th | Voortrekker 2nd | Lamonds | lost | 7-32 | ||
| 16A | St Charles | Goldstones | won | 75-7 | ||
| 16B | Voortrekker A | Snows | won | 60-0 | ||
| 16C | Howick A | Nicholsons 1 | won | 36-6 | ||
| 16D | St Charles B | Nicholsons 1 | won | 31-0 | ||
| 15A | St Charles | Snows | won | 33-0 | ||
| 15B | Voortrekker A | Snows | won | 29-5 | ||
| 15C | Linpark A | Nicholsons 1 | won | 43-5 | ||
| 15D | St Charles B | Nicholsons 1 | won | 14-5 | ||
| 15E | Howick A | Nicholsons 2 | lost | 0-43 | ||
| 15F | Westville E | Away (Westville) | lost | 0-50 | ||
| 14A | St Charles | Snows | won | 56-14 | ||
| 14B | Voortrekker A | Snows | won | 45-7 | ||
| 14C | Linpark A | Leaches | won | 22-10 | ||
| 14D | St Charles B | Nicholsons 2 | won | 38-29 | ||
| 14E | Howick A | Nicholsons 2 | won | 43-18 | ||
| 14F | St Charles C | Leaches | won | 29-20 | ||
Hockey
All of the 15 hockey matches played were against St Charles with College winnng 11, drawing 3 and losing just the one game. Our RedArmy have never lost to St Charles and it was a close game played on Pape’s Astro which saw College secure a 1-0 victory.
1st XI Match Report (Mr Kyle Emerson, 1st XI coach)
College was excited to host their local rivals, St Charles, in a fixture on Pape’s to get the 2022 season underway.
College asserted themselves with much of the ball and opened the scoring with their second opportunity of the game. After the St Charles goalkeeper made a great stick save to keep Ross Graham’s backhand shot at goal out the net, College scored from the resulting long corner. The ball was passed to Matthew Ponter who slapped the ball into the circle to Oliver Currie who was unmarked, and he rolled the ball to Ross Graham who made no mistake with a first-time finish.
College continued to create chance after chance but could not add to the score line. Twice the St Charles goalkeeper made telling saves and two more times in the first half the ball flashed wide after a College striker failed to hit the target. Moments before half-time a St Charles defender made a spectacular save off the line whilst running backwards towards goal after the ball had been flicked over the goalkeeper.
The second half saw College dominate possession, but they were not able to create enough opportunities with it. St Charles earned a penalty corner late in the match, but Roan Marais was able to deal with the dragflick with ease. As the game went on and both teams got a bit fatigued, the standard of play dropped with a number of unforced errors. St Charles received two yellow cards in the fourth quarter as their physical barrage and poor tackles caught up with them. College could not make their numerical advantage count and they had a penalty corner saved, again, by the St Charles goalkeeper.
College finished the game feeling like they should have done more with the possession and opportunities which they created but were be happy with the clean sheet, winning 1-0.
Summary of Scores:
| Team | Opponents | Venue | Win/ Loss | Score |
| 1st | SCC | Papes Astro | won | 1-0 |
| 2nd | SCC | Papes Astro | won | 4-0 |
| 3rd | SCC | SCC | lost | 1-2 |
| 4th | SCC | SCC | won | 5-1 |
| 5th | SCC | SCC | drew | 0-0 |
| 16A | SCC | Papes Astro | won | 4-0 |
| 16B | SCC | Papes Astro | won | 1-0 |
| 16C | SCC | SCC | won | 4-0 |
| 16D | SCC | SCC | drew | 0-0 |
| 16E | SCC | SCC | drew | 0-0 |
| 16F | SCC | AB Jackson Astro | won | 3-0 |
| 14A | SCC | Papes Astro | won | 2-0 |
| 14B | SCC | Papes Astro | won | 4-0 |
| 14C | SCC | AB Jackson Astro | won | 3-0 |
| 14D | SCC | AB Jackson Astro | won | 2-0 |
Canoeing
Two of College’s U18 boys took part in the Umkomaas Canoe Marathon which was also the KZN River Champs. James Goble and Ian Hemingway finished in 1st place in the U18 category and an excellent 10th overall.
Athletics
Five College boys were selected to take part in the SA Schools Athletics Champs, and did their school proud with some outstanding results.
- Neo Mosebi won the under 19 100m in a time of 10.29 and the 200m in a time of 20.91.
- Ryan Stockill won the under 19 high jump clearing 2.04m.
- Joshua Sweetnam, under 17, was 9th in the shotput with a distance of 15.55m, and finished 13th in the Discus with a distance of 43.07. He also finished in 9th position in Hammer throw with distance of 34.60.
- I Kayembe was 6th in the 100m boys under 17 with a time of 10.91
- Luyanda Kunene ended in 13th in the long jump for boys under 17 with a distance of 6.34m.
Shooting
College took part in the 2nd shooting league with boys placing in both 10m u20 and u16 sporter events.
10m u20 Sporter
1st Nathan de Villiers
3rd Connor Vahey
10m u16 Sporter
1st Arno Kritzinger
2nd H Pretorius
3rd Reece Pitout