Defences rule as Northwood and DHS share the spoils

Northwood and DHS had put together remarkably stingy defensive records ahead of their meeting on Saturday on Reece-Edwards Field in Durban. Despite early tries from both sides, they kept those miserly defensive records intact, with the contest ending 7-7.
DHS made the early running but, uncharacteristically, their flyhalf Aka Boqwana missed a sitter and the Knights made the Horseflies pay shortly after that by putting points on the board the first time they visited deep into DHS territory.
From a five-metre lineout, they put together a well-structured maul and got the shove on the visitors to force their way over. Ramatuku Sikhakane neatly added the extras to put Northwood into an early 7-0 lead.
Within three minutes, DHS had levelled, with Zenkhosi Mthiyane going over from a beautifully executed backline move which created a wide gap for the left-wing to run through and score to the right of the uprights. Boqwana’s conversion was on the mark, and it was 7-7.

From then on, though, it was a stalemate.
After the contest, DHS Director of Rugby Peter Engeldow commented: “There was a lot more tactical kicking in the game than in the past, especially from Northwood’s side, and to be fair, tactically they were a bit better than us in the kicking game.
“We didn’t kick very accurately and, when we did kick, we kicked straight to guys in position. It was a bit frustrating. ”
DHS also missed out on a penalty kick at goal when they took too long to bring out a kicking tee. Instead, Northwood received a scrum. Northwood, though, also saw an easy kick miss the target near the end.
Candidly, Engeldow said: “If I’m honest, they deserved to win the game. We were lucky to draw, in the end. We weren’t clinical enough. In key areas, we didn’t execute well enough.”
While it was a draw, it was another step forward for coach Jacques Deen and the Northwood Knights. They were comfortably beaten by DHS in 2023, with School winning 26-7 at home and 27-5 at Northwood.
Some stern tests await Northwood, but with a win against Hilton and a draw against DHS, two of the stronger teams on their schedule, they’ve made a lot of people sit up and take notice already.
At the Riverside Sports Club, Clifton College welcomed Glenwood High School, with both entering the match off the back of hard-fought defeats, with Clifton having gone down by five to St Stithians and Glenwood losing by 11 to Maritzburg College.
The hosts met fire with fire and made the Green Machine fight hard for each and every point, but Glenwood’s control of possession was the telling factor in their 34-7 win.
There is only so much defending a team can do before the dam wall breaks and the visitors managed to cross for three tries in the opening stanza.
In the second half, for a long time there was little to separate the sides as Clifton gave as good as they got.

When the teams turned, it was 17-0 in Glenwood’s favour and they edged further ahead with another try, but Clifton, deservedly got themselves onto the scoreboard through a try from their burly centre Bradley Beeslaar, who was rewarded for his industry when he joined a maul near the visitors’ try line.
Glenwood, though, will be satisfied with the control they exerted over the game and, of course, with scoring a win.
Traditionally, the Green Machine has built its success off of solid set pieces and the forwards delivering quality ball to the backs – it’s a well-known and proven recipe that works – and there was plenty of that to be seen.
Clifton, though, defended manfully and made it a bruising battle for the visitors.
SCORES
Northwood vs DHS
u19 – Northwood I 7 DHS I 7; Northwood II 27 DHS II 33; Northwood III 5 DHS III 19; Northwood IV 26 DHS IV 17; Northwood V 10 DHS V 12; Northwood VI 17 DHS VI 7
u16 – Northwood A 14 DHS A 21; Northwood B 12 DHS B 0; Northwood C 31 DHS C 7; Northwood D 20 DHS D 0
u15 – Northwood A 10 DHS A 23; Northwood B 7 DHS B 10; Northwood C 20 DHS C 5; Northwood D 22 DHS D 14
u14 – Northwood A 12 DHS A 36; Northwood B 0 DHS B 24; Northwood C 10 DHS C 7; Northwood D 10 DHS D 15; Northwood E 17 DHS E 10
Clifton College vs Glenwood
u19 – Clifton I 7Glenwood I 34; Clifton II 0 Glenwood II 56; Clifton III 29 Glenwood 17
u16 – Clifton A 3 Glenwood A 53; Clifton B 10 Glenwood 34
u15 – Clifton A 12 Glenwood A 26; Clifton B 31 Glenwood 24
u14 – Clifton A 0 Glenwood A 12; Clifton B 10 Glenwood 7