Maritzburg College overcomes feisty St Charles, St Alban’s downs Clifton
St Charles College is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2025 and that meant that Old Orchards was jam-packed and electric for Saturday’s showdown between the Saints 1st XV and Maritzburg College on St Charles’s Old Boys’ Day. What an atmosphere!
Saints have had their fair share of injuries this season, and they were trounced by Hilton College at home last weekend, but they were a different team on Saturday, giving College a thorough workout before the Red, Black, and White came away with a tough 26-16 victory.
Saints started brightly, forcing the visitors deep into their 22, where they conceded a penalty. In a strong sign of their intent, St Charles opted against a kick at goal and instead set up a lineout five metres from the College try line. It didn’t work out, but it was clear that the home team had their sights set on an upset.
They were the first to score, too, when, in the seventh minute, a beautifully judged cross-kick from flyhalf AJ Bosman picked out right-wing, Likuthi Mbalana, between two defenders. He juggled the ball, gathered it in, and raced through, executing a flashy dive next to the uprights to finish off the try-scoring move.
Bosman, the architect of the try, knocked over the conversion to add two more points to the Saints’ haul.
For the next 10 minutes, the teams probed and thrust at one another in the middle of the field, but when the home side won a penalty, about 28 metres out, on the left, Bosman took a shot at goal and nailed it to put St Charles 10-0 clear.
Four minutes later, Maritzburg College was on the board. They attacked from a lineout and worked their way up to the hosts’ try line, but Saints turned possession over and counterattacked. Number eight, Raphael Ajibade, put in a chip as he sped down the right touchline, but he was beaten by a nasty bounce, and College launched a counter from their 10m line.
Moving the ball from left to right, they found space on the right flank, where wing Caleb Scheepers put in a chip over fullback Phiwe-Junior Dlamini. Again, the bounce of the ball favoured the visitors and centre Jordan Thackeray snapped up the ball and dragged hooker Dresden Coetzee defender over the try line for five points. It appeared as if he might have spilled the ball forward in the act of scoring, but the referee was decisive in his determination that it had been forced down, and College had their first points.
Dom du Toit, whose place-kicking has impressed since he took over the kicking duties, was on target and the gap between the sides shrank to three points.
Conceding that try brought a strong response out of St Charles, and they played a lot of rugby in College’s half without being able to reap a reward before halftime. Still, with a narrow lead at the break, coach Craig Dwyer‘s boys had the home supporters excited.
Maritzburg College started the second half well, playing the game in the St Charles half. They inched their way towards the Saints’ try line through their forwards before attacking the blind side, on the left. Thackeray almost sliced through for a try, but, after he was brought down, the ball was quickly recycled to the right, with an inviting flat pass to Mian Pretorius helping College over for a second five-pointer and the lead.
Dom du Toit, unusually, didn’t land the conversion. Five minutes had been played in the second stanza.
Within two minutes, though, St Charles had nosed ahead, thanks to a successful penalty kick from AJ Bosman.
From the restart, College worked their way deep into Saints’ territory, dialling up the pressure as they maintained possession through numerous phases, denting the hosts’ defensive line as they drove the ball up with their forwards. When that pressure brought them a penalty, they turned down what would have been an easy kick at goal and kicked to touch.
St Charles, though, forced a fumble out of prop Indiphile Moltshwa as he dived to dot down and, for a moment, the home side breathed a little easier. They had a five-metre put-in.
Sharp defence from College, however, resulted in Saints making a mess of their exit and a kick that didn’t find touch led to the visiting team countering and attacking deep in College’s 22 again. Bashing it up and recycling quickly, they went right to lock Mian Pretorius and he made the dive for five for a second time.
Du Toit tacked on the extras and College pulled six points clear at 19-13.
Coach Nico Breedt‘s boys were soon back on the offensive after St Charles conceded a penalty, and an accurate touch-finder gave College a five-metre lineout. St Charles, though, repulsed the drive at the line and created a turnover and a penalty to escape a try-scoring threat.
Then, another superbly weighted chip from AJ Bosman dropped perfectly for centre Athenkosi Qumo. He ran onto the ball and accelerated into the College half. After he was brought down, the visitors were blown up for not releasing the tackled player and Bosman pointed to the uprights again. Another good kick reduced the deficit to only three points.
Maritzburg College turned to the tried and tested to open up the gap once more, banging a penalty into touch and then letting the pack chip away at the home team’s defences with their forwards. St Charles defended valiantly. Eventually, though, the dam wall broke and Owethu Kosani crashed over for a try.
Du Toit dished up two more points with his boot to put College 10 points ahead at 26-16.
Trailing by more than a single score, Saints opted for touch instead of a kickable penalty, with seven minutes left. Hooker Dresden Coetzee almost went over, but was halted a couple of metres shy of the whitewash. College soaked up the pressure and was eventually able to escape their 22.
Victory went the way of the Red, Black, and White, but St Charles, on their Old Boys’ Day, brought plenty to the contest and gave their alumni many reasons to be proud after a feisty and committed performance against their Pietermaritzburg rivals.
Clifton College vs St Alban’s College
In Durban, Clifton College celebrated its Founders Weekend with hockey and rugby fixtures against St Alban’s College.
It’s been a tough season for the Clifton 1st XV thus far and it didn’t get any better on Saturday at the Riverside Sports Club.
Perhaps it was the occasion, and the Clifton boys were desperate to impress their old boys, but it seemed to get to them. There was no shortage of effort, but it was undermined by poor ball retention and imprecise passing, which prevented the home team from building up any rhythm.
Meanwhile, St Alban’s didn’t produce a vintage performance. They didn’t have to. They punished Clifton’s errors in the first half, slotting three penalties to take a 9-0 lead. Then, just before halftime, they forced their way over for the first try of the game. A successful conversion made it 16-0 at the break.
In the second half, St Alban’s added four more tries to pull comfortably clear and score a 38-0 victory. Vuthali Matsila starred for the Pretoria school, showing off his pace as he crossed for a hat-trick of tries, while Everett Gosling also bagged a five-pointer.
Thabiso Simelane enjoyed his outing, scoring a try, landing three penalties, and a conversion for a personal haul of 16 points. Rea Masuku also slotted a penalty.
SCORES
St Charles College 16 (10) – Try: Likuthi Mbalana. Conversion: AJ Bosman. Penalty: AJ Bosman (2); Maritzburg College 26 (7) – Tries: Mian Pretorius (2), Jordan Thackeray, Owethu Kosani. Conversion: Dom du Toit (3).
Clifton College 0 (0); St Alban’s College 39 (16) – Tries: Vuthali Matsila (3), Everett Gosling, Thabiso Simelane. Conversions: Thabiso Simelane, Rea Masuku. Penalties: Thabiso Simelane (3).
RESULTS
St Charles College vs Maritzburg College
u19 – St Charles I 16 Maritzburg College I 26; St Charles II 3 Maritzburg College II 61; Midlands I 7 Maritzburg College III 34; Linpark I 0 Maritzburg College IV 29; Ashton I 10 Maritzburg College V 19; Haythorne I 14 Maritzburg College VI 39; St Charles IV 7 Maritzburg College VII 15; Howick II 32 Maritzburg College VIII 5; Linpark II 29 Maritzburg College IX 5; St Charles V 37 Maritzburg College X 15.
u16 – St Charles A 0 Maritzburg College A 47; Midlands A 7 Maritzburg College B 55; Asibemunye 10 Maritzburg College C 31; St Charles B 8 Maritzburg College D 14; Howick A 27 Maritzburg College E 22; Siyalomula 27 Maritzburg College F 7.
u15 – St Charles 14 Maritzburg College 22; Ashton A 0 Maritzburg College B 40; St Charles B 0 Maritzburg College C 39; Howick A 16 Maritzburg College D 8.
u14 – St Charles A 0 Maritzburg College A 38; Linpark A 5 Maritzburg College B 55; St Charles B 3 Maritzburg College C 39; Howick A 0 Maritzburg College D 25; Pretoria Boys High D 14 Maritzburg College E 17
Clifton College vs St Alban’s College
u19 – Clifton I 0 St Alban’s I 38; Clifton II 14 St Alban’s II 17; Clifton III 0 St Alban’s III 53
u16 – Clifton A 17 St Alban’s A 10
u15 – Clifton A 7 St Alban’s A 26
u14 – Clifton A 24 St Alban’s A 5; Clifton B 19 St Alban’s B 38
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