Never-say-die Northwood wins at Maritzburg College
For a second week in succession, Northwood School pulled off a gritty late comeback to snatch victory.
On Friday, on Goldstone’s, they edged out Maritzburg College 24-21 in a King Price Derby Series showdown after trailing 10-21 with 10 minutes to play.
Those wins speak volumes about the character of the Knights – and winning on Goldstone’s is a huge achievement – but the manner of the victories will also be cause for concern for coach Jacques Deen. Arguably, both Michaelhouse and College, on the balance of play, controlled more of their games against Northwood. Then again, Northwood won.
“It ain’t over ’til it’s over” is often credited to legendary New York Yankees’ catcher, Yogi Berra, and it’s a saying that applies to the Knights. Even when they’re not at their best, they’re in the game and they play through to the final whistle. They should be commended for that.
With Basher Ridge, packed to the brim with College boys, Adam Cahill gave the home side a 3-0 lead in the seventh minute with a penalty from 28 metres out, just left of the uprights.
From the restart, Northwood surged onto the attack and worked their way into the College 22, where they won a penalty of their own. Ludi van der Walt stepped up and converted the kick to level the scores.
The Knights, then, set up camp in the Maritzburg College 22 after a superb 50/22 kick from fullback Trevor van Vollenstee found touch five metres from the try line.
From a five-metre scrum, they shifted the ball to the left. With some players running dummy lines, the ball was popped to right-wing, Aphiwe Maphisa, who had sneaked in and looped around flyhalf Ludi van der Walt‘s left shoulder. Arching his back, he evaded two would-be tacklers. Then, with excellent vision, he stepped inside off his left foot to wrong-foot the scrambling defenders and go over just to the left of the posts.
Van der Walt tacked on the extras to put the visitors 10-3 ahead.
Utilising a direct, physical approach, College used their forwards to bash away at the Northwood defensive line and force the visiting team back into their half. Their pressure was rewarded with another penalty and Cahill did well to knock through a kick from 43 metres to reduce the deficit by three points in the 23rd minute.
In the second half, College hooker Theo Boshoff powered his way off a driving maul to take the ball to within five metres of the Knights’ try line. All it needed was one pass to the left to 8th-man and captain, Wasi Vyambwera, and the home team was over. He lowered his head and drove across the whitewash, taking a tackler with him, to edge College ahead. Cahill increased the advantage to three points with a successful conversion kick.
Northwood’s response was immediate and they forced their way deep into the 22 of the Red, Black, and White. They moved the ball from a maul quickly to the right wing where Maphisa came oh so close to squeezing his way across the line, but the assistant referee’s flag was up on the touchline.
It was a College throw-in, but the ball wasn’t secured and Northwood grabbed it and went over for what they thought were five points. The referee, though, had his arm raised for an infraction at the lineout and College cleared their lines.
After the hosts laid siege to Northwood’s try line, they hit the ball up through the forwards for phase after phase, but the visitors stood firm. They did, however, stray offsides and that gave Cahill a chance to extend College’s lead with a simple kick from in front of the poles. He knocked it over to make it Maritzburg College 16-10 Northwood.
On the hour-mark, College launched a counterattack just into Northwood’s half. Flyhalf Jordan Thackeray quickly kicked wide to the left where he found Ntsika Mkize in acres of space. The wing gathered the ball and charged into Northwood’s 22, cutting inside. Boshoff carried on the attack before he was chopped down about 10 metres out.
College went to the left from the ruck, where tighthead prop, Alande Ngubane, sold a dummy, drew two tacklers, then lifted his arm through the tackles and fed his loosehead, Indiphile Mlotshwa, who dived over to the delight of the crowd, who roared their approval of the skills of the big men. Maritzburg College led 21-10.
Northwood came back strongly, making good ground when they used the blind side on the right flank. Then, from a lineout, Chad Howe took a clean ball and the Knights drove effectively to force their way across the College try line through Jamie Wimble. Trevor van Volenstee nailed the conversion to pull Jacques Dean’s charges to within four points.
Time had almost expired when Northwood attacked towards the right-hand touchline, from around the halfway line. Stopped out wide, they brought the ball back to the left. A long pass found Jaydon Smith in a little space on the right and he hit the accelerator, burning the nearest defender with an outside break. College’s defence raced to cover his path down the left sideline, but Smith arced inside, leaving the last defender grasping at air, before diving over for a spectacular try just left of the poles.
Northwood led by a point and Van Volenstee made it three with a good conversion kick.
Maritzburg College had a last opportunity to either pull off a draw or a win when they moved the ball through the hands from a lineout, but it was knocked on wide on the left and the referee blew the final whistle. Northwood had won it at the death again.
Maritzburg College 21 (6) – Tries: Wasi Vyambwera, Indiphile Mlotshwa. Conversions: Adam Cahill. Penalties: Adam Cahill (3). Northwood School 24 (10) – Tries: Aphiwe Maphisa, Jamie Wimble, Jaydon Smith. Conversions: Trevor van Volenstee (2), Ludi van der Walt. Penalty: Trevor van Volenstee.
RESULTS
u19 – Maritzburg College I 21 Northwood 24; Maritzburg College II 24 Northwood II 7; Maritzburg College III 15 Northwood III 12; Maritzburg College IV 29 Northwood 7; Maritzburg College V 32 Northwood V 5; Maritzburg College VI 35 Northwood 5; Maritzburg College VII 29 Alexander High I 10; Maritzburg College VIII 20 Michaelhouse VIII 24; Maritzburg College IX 25 Michaelhouse IX 20; Maritzburg College X 26 Michaelhouse X 14
u16 – Maritzburg College A 26 Northwood 45; Maritzburg College B 17 Northwood B 7; Maritzburg College C 25 Northwood 17; Maritzburg College D 24 Northwood D 19; Maritzburg College E 41 Northwood E 12; Maritzburg College F 12 Haythorne Secondary School 17
u15 – Maritzburg College A 20 Northwood A 19; Maritzburg College B 10 Northwood B 5; Maritzburg College C 6 Northwood C 3; Maritzburg College D 44 Northwood D 12; Maritzburg College E 27 Northwood E 12; Maritzburg College F 10 Linpark A 46
u14 – Maritzburg College A 26 Northwood A 12; Maritzburg College B 36 Northwood B 0; Maritzburg College C 29 Northwood C 12; Maritzburg College D 50 Northwood D 0; Maritzburg College E 21 Northwood E 12; Maritzburg College F 5 Northwood F 36
