Affies edge out Maritzburg College in heart-stopping thriller
Maritzburg College and Affies delivered a thriller on Goldstone’s on Saturday, with Ruben Pienaar landing a penalty 30 seconds from the final whistle to snatch a hard-fought 39-37 victory for the visitors.
Many would have picked the Wit Bulle to record a comfortable win – their record this season is excellent – but taking on Maritzburg College on Goldstone’s is a serious challenge, and not many teams manage wins on the Red, Black and White‘s famous home ground. Affies, beaten 50-31 by College in Pretoria last season, turned the tables, just.
Relive the action on SuperSport Schools
“We knew coming here, it was going to be tough, but what a win!” a smiling Affies’ Head of Rugby, Ruan Jacobs, told SuperSport Schools Plus after the game. ” We stuck it out until the end. I think the guys deserved it for the way we played. It’s nice for them to win a tight one in the white jersey.”
Maritzburg College had edged ahead with only three minutes left to play, scoring a try in the left-hand corner to pull within a point of the visitors. Then, from in front of Basher RidgPotgietere, College flyhalf James Slevin, cool as a cucumber, had converted from the touchline to put his side 37-36 ahead.
Affies’ flyhalf Pienaar had a chance to win it shortly after that, from about the College 10m line, around 15 metres to the left of the posts, but his kick was directly into the wind, and it came up short. Still, the Wit Bulle kept battling and when they won another penalty, this time deep inside the Maritzburg 22, Pienaar made no mistake.
It was a gut punch to the College solar plexus, but the Pietermaritzburg school had done themselves and their supporters proud.
“The biggest thing for me was that the effort was unreal,” Maritzburg College Director of Rugby, Hendré Marnitz, said afterwards. “I know the result didn’t go our way, but that’s 9.9 out of 10 for effort and execution. The 0.1, unfortunately, is the penalty in the last minute. But you can’t fault the effort. It was unbelievable.
“The skill set was good today. The attacking mindset was good. The physicality was good. That’s sport, isn’t it?”
At the very first scrum, College, with their South African Schools props, Phiwayinkhosi Kubheka and Aiden Botha, took it hard to Affies, forcing the Pretoria boys backwards, but there was very little give from them thereafter. They were missing three of their first-choice tight five, but they were up for the challenge.
“We were very comfortable with the guys coming in. They’re young guys, but brilliant players in their own right,” Ruan Jacobs said. “It was fun to give them a chance in the white jersey, as well, so I am glad they took their chance and won. It is better to learn when you’re winning, rather than losing.”
Given their results against the same opposition this season – Affies pushed Grey College and Paul Roos all the way, while Maritzburg College was well beaten by both – the visitors from Pretoria should have cruised to victory, but games are not played on paper, and the contest received exactly what it needed when the home team opened the scoring with a try in the third minute from Aiden Botha, which was converted by the no. 10, Slevin.
That set the tone for a back-and-forth battle and Affies soon responded when outside centre Hendré Schoeman made a dive for five to the left of the uprights after slicing between two players, following a driving maul which had sucked in the Maritzburg College defenders. Flyhalf Pienaar added the extras.
A Slevin penalty put College 10-7 in front, but Affies, after forcing their way right up to the College try line on the right, quickly shifted the ball wide to the left with swift long passes to open up acres of space and put fullback Ruben Groenewald over.
A successful conversion attempt from Pienaar gave Affies a four-point advantage.
Throughout the contest, Affies impressed with their ability to move the ball wide to both flanks speedily, with accurate long passes.
“That’s something we looked at. I think that is a strength of our team,” Jacobs said. “Obviously, we are blessed with a guy like Janco Purchase. He has the ability to go hard at the line, but he also has the ability to distribute. He creates a lot of opportunities for the guys on the outside.”
On Saturday, the South African Schools’ centre caught the eye with his terrific vision and passing, and he was also effective running hard and straight at the Maritzburg defence.
Affies looked like they might have a shot at another try, when they created space wide on the left once more, but a spilled pass sat up nicely for College’s fullback Luyanda Kunene, who grabbed the ball close to his side’s 10-metre line. Pienaar desperately tried to execute an ankle tap, but Kunene was flying, and he outstripped the defence to dive over to the right of the posts.
Another accurate Slevin conversion gave the home team a three-point advantage at 17-14.
In the 26th minute, though, Affies hit back and regained the lead. A quickly taken penalty wide on the left was driven up into the 22. Then, when it was released from a ruck, Purchase threw a stupendous pass of about 25 metres wide to his right to pick out right-wing Nicolaas Grobler, who had a clear run to the try line in front of him. This time, Pienaar missed the conversion.
Another breakout from College, after Purchase had ripped through the defence and into the hosts’ 22, saw Nkuleleko Sithole kick ahead before gathering the ball just inside the Affies’ half. He was brought down on the visitors’ 22. The tacker didn’t roll away quickly enough, though, and Slevin was afforded a penalty kick at goal. Another successful strike led to a change of the lead again.
More good passing from Affies launched a scything counterattack down the left-hand flank, which took them into the 22. Then, they moved it inside before heading towards the left-hand touchline once more. But the path to the try line was straight, with 8th-man Ruan Lippold picking up and charging directly over a ruck for a try.
Pienaar added the extras to give Affies a 26-20 lead at the break.
In the early going, the support for both sides had been surprisingly sporadic, but as the teams had grown into the game, so, too, had the excitement on the sidelines mounted. In the second half, the supporters gave it their all and the teams gave them something to shout about.
Rambo Kubheka and company started the second stanza strongly, working the ball through a number of phases as they probed at the visitors’ defensive lines. It was thrilling stuff, but eventually it was undone by a forward pass. Affies, though, had strayed offsides under pressure and the reliable boot of Slevin brought Maritzburg College to within three points at 23-26.
Affies turned to their driving maul to respond, and they powered their way to another try in the 42nd minute, with hooker Christiaan Potgieter crashing over, to move their advantage to eight points, just beyond a converted try.
Maritzburg swiftly reversed the momentum, taking their attack deep into the Affies’ 22. When they won a penalty near the try line, they opted for a quick tap. Excellent quick hands from tighthead prop Botha and inside centre Sithole then put his midfield partner Swelithle Mbatha over for a try.
The unerring Slevin tacked on two to make the score Maritzburg College 30, Affies 31. Just over 10 minutes remained in the game.
A fantastic show and go, with a break to the inside from Ruben Pienaar, ripped apart the home team’s defences to extend the Affies’ lead by five more points, but the flyhalf was unable to slot the conversion.
Once more, the team that had conceded points immediately surged onto the offensive, and this time it was Maritzburg College who hit it up with short passes and direct running, deep inside the visitors’ 22. They kept working it within the channel from the 15-metre line to the left-hand touchline and this eventually paid dividends when Wasi Vyambwera dived over in the corner.
Slevin lined up the conversion attempt. Behind him, on Basher Ridge, the College boys stood with right hands over their hearts. The flyhalf’s strike was straight and true and the bashers were launched high into the air. An upset was on the cards, it seemed.
Both teams are renowned for their grit and fighting spirit, however, and Affies were not done. In the end, they found a way to win, with Pienaar, who didn’t have his best day with the boot, making the kick that counted.
“Sometimes that happens,” Jacobs said about Pienaar’s misses off the tee, but he was happy with the flyhalf’s all-round contribution. ‘I think his attacking play was good. His kicking was a little bit off, but that’s what you get sometimes, and then guys stepped up and we played good attacking rugby. It was a good team effort.”
On the opposite side, Maritzburg College’s Director of Rugby, Hendré Marnitz, was full of praise for his no. 10, James Slevin.
“James, today, was special,” he said. “His ability to control the game and his effort in training the last couple of months has been excellent. I give him a lot of credit for the effort that he puts in, and it rolls over into his game. He really works tirelessly at his kicking and the finer details. I’m really proud of James, and he is a really good kid, as well.”
In the end, Affies claimed a heart-stopping 37-36 victory and while it was a win for the visitors, it was also a victory for derbies between the big traditional boys’ schools. The respect for the opposition and the hard and fair manner in which the matches were contested reflected the best of South African schoolboys’ rugby.
Scorers
Maritzburg College 37 (20) – Tries: Aiden Botha, Luyanda Kunene, Swelithle Mbatha, Wasi Vyambwera. Conversions: James Slevin (4). Penalties: James Slevin (3); Affies 39 (26) – Tries: Hendré Schoeman, Ruben Groenewald, Nicolas Grobler, Ruan Lippold, Christiaan Potgieter, Ruben Pienaar. Conversions: Ruben Pienaar (3). Penalties: Ruben Pienaar
Results
u19 – Maritzburg College I 37 Affies I 39; Maritzburg College II 10 Affies II 33; Maritzburg College III 21 Affies III 26; Maritzburg College IV 19 Affies IV 19; Maritzburg College V 7 Affies V 24; Maritzburg College VI 8 Affies VI 38; Maritzburg College VII 7 Affies VII 42; Maritzburg College VIII 5 Affies VIII 27; Maritzburg College IX 12 Affies IX 42
u16 – Maritzburg College A 27 Affies A 43; Maritzburg College B 6 Affies B 22; Maritzburg College C 12 Affies C 62; Maritzburg College D 0 Affies D 50; Maritzburg College E 0 Affies E 50
u15 – Maritzburg College A 13 Affies A 49; Maritzburg College B 3 Affies B 50; Maritzburg College C 7 Affies C 57; Maritzburg College D 5 Affies D 55; Maritzburg College E 3 Affies E 50; Maritzburg College F 0 Affies F 50
u14 – Maritzburg College A 10 Affies A 12; Maritzburg College B 3 Affies B 52; Maritzburg College C 7 Affies C 36; Maritzburg College D 0 Affies D 36; Maritzburg College E 0 Affies E 40
![Charlie Hofmeyr u16 - 2018 [captained by Cameron Hanekom]](https://ssschoolsplus.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/WhatsApp-Image-2024-11-20-at-09.03.03-400x257.jpeg)
