Maritzburg College too much for the Candies, Jeppe stuns Westville
Pretoria Boys High went into Saturday’s showdown with Maritzburg College on Goldstone’s with a mixed record of three wins and two losses. Still, surely no one foresaw a thorough domination of the Candies by the Red, Black, and White, who powered their way to an eye-popping 61-5 victory.
Boys High couldn’t find a foothold for one primary reason: College dominated the set pieces, especially the scrums. That domination opened up time and space for the home side to let their backs express themselves, and they revelled in those tasty opportunities, powering to a 40-5 halftime lead over the shellshocked visitors.
Unfortunately for PBHS, they were never in the contest. Their lone try came from a loose pass by College, which set up the speedy Ayabonga Mabuza for a sprint down the left-hand touchline and a five-pointer in the corner. Apart from that gift, though, they weren’t in the game.
They were unfortunate to be up against the boot of Dom du Toit, one of the most accurate kickers in the country, and he turned tries into seven-point plays with monotonous regularity. To cap an outstanding performance, the Maritzburg College scrumhalf also dotted down twice.
The home side made the kind of start that coaches dream about: the forwards controlling possession and denting the opposition’s defences through a series of pick and goes. Then, they sent the ball down the backline and stretched the defence, which allowed Du Toit to exploit a slight gap, and College led 5-0. Du Toit, unsurprisingly, made it 7-0 in the fourth minute of the game.
College’s tempo and clean ball had Pretoria Boys High on the run, scrambling to slow the onslaught, but it kept coming, and 8th-man Rory Stanton was the next across the line, running onto a flat pass and into space before wrongfooting the last defender with a sharp step off his right foot. It was 14-0 after only nine minutes.
Three minutes later, the Candies enjoyed their lone score of the contest through Mabuza, but that had come against the run of play. Traffic was heading one way.
Olwethu Kosani delivered one of the highlight plays of the match in the 20th minute, slipping past three defenders to go over from 40 metres out. Du Toit converted.
Facing a relentless bombardment of attacks, Boys High kept missing tackles, and once that happened, they were in trouble. College made big metres regularly.
Flyhalf Liyema Tsoko was the next to score, in under the posts, and Du Toit extended College’s lead to 23 points.
A massive drive off a lineout, with College’s back joining their forwards, earned hooker Theo Boshoff the home side’s next five-pointer, and Du Toit’s trusty right foot lifted the Red, Black, and White’s total to 35 points.
By the end of the first half, Maritzburg College was 40-5 to the good, with a counterattack from Sindiswa Hadebe and a beautiful offload setting up Caleb Scheepers another try. For once, Du Toit’s kick didn’t land. But it was literally that: for once.
Du Toit got the scoreboard moving again in the second stanza with his second try and another conversion. Brent Smith sliced through the Candies’ defences for College’s eighth try, just after the hour mark, and Lwanzo Vyambwera completed the try-scoring with four minutes to go.
Scrumhalf Dom du Toit added his eighth conversion, which brought his personal tally in the match to an impressive 26 points.
Jeppe High School for Boys vs Westville Boys’ High
High-flying Westville Boys’ High hit the road for a showdown with Jeppe High School for Boys on Collard Field on Saturday. Despite playing away from home and in the high altitude of Johannesburg, the Griffins headed into the clash favoured to win it, and it looked as if that would happen when they built up a 14-0 lead.
They struck first after 15 minutes, with the speedy Jadrian Afrikaner making a clean break to run in a try that had begun from a lineout around the halfway line. Their second came from just inside their half, with the slick Westville backs punching a hole in the Jeppe backline before Avu Lisa sent Bukho Sotaka away for a try in the right corner.
Flyhalf Jade-Will Koopman, captaining the side in the absence of Westville’s injured SA Schools’ lock, Lwandle Mlaba, landed both conversions. What was worth noting about the visitors’ tries, though, was that they had to score them from range. Jeppe was not making it easy for them by allowing them close to their try line.
Then, Jeppe replied in the 25th minute by driving flank Hayden Venter over from a five-metre lineout, and flyhalf Mbhalati Ndzalama nailed a challenging conversion kick to half the deficit.
Soft conditions underfoot favoured a grind-it-out, pick-and-go approach from the forwards, and Jeppe executed that well to score their second just before halftime, with Venter again forcing his way over from close range and Ndzalama adding the extras to level the scores.
Jeppe’s third, though, came from inside their 22, thanks to their fullback Dalitso Milanzi, who called a mark on a high kick, then quickly took a tap. He ripped a big hole in Westville’s disorganised defence, making it up to halfway before finding support on his outside. Just one more pass and left-wing Lethabo Mashao was in the clear. Ndzalama nailed the conversion, and Jeppe led for the first time at 19-14.
Westville turned to Jeppe’s recipe for their third, forcing their way up the field and deep into the Zebras’ 22, where lock Hayden Weihman provided the finish, and flyhalf Koopman knocked over the easy conversion to make it 21-21 with just over 10 minutes to go.
The Griffins took the lead again with five to go when Jadrian Afrikaner showed why he represented SA Schools in 2025. Receiving the ball with play rather static, he side-stepped the nearest defender, cut inside, then hit the gas back outside again to score his second try of the contest. Koopman made it 28-21.
As the New York Yankees’ legendary catcher Yogi Berra famously said, “It ain’t over till it’s over”, and that, very much, reflects Jeppe’s never-say-die spirit. They finished strongly, fighting until the final whistle.
They kicked off with four minutes remaining and quickly drove their way down into Westville’s 22. Driving hard around the edges of rucks, they closed in on the visitors’ try line before swiftly moving the ball out wide, where flyhalf Mbhalati Ndzalama finished in the left corner. That left him with a very difficult conversion kick. He missed it.
Still, Jeppe kept pressing. They had the bit between their teeth and were finishing on the front foot. Then, with time also up, Westville was pinged for a high tackle, and Ndzalama nailed his penalty kick attempt from just outside the visitors’ 22 and a little left of the uprights to make it 29-28 to the home team.
When the home side retained possession from the kick off, they took the little time that remained off the clock by driving up through two phases before Ndzalama was able to kick the ball high and handsome over Jeppe’s deadball line to secure the victory.
It was a big scalp for the Zebras, one to add to that of Hoërskool Garsfontein, which looks better and better now that Garsies’ record includes wins over Noordheuwel, Stellenberg, Paarl Boys’ High, and Affies.
Scorers
Maritzburg College 61 (40) – Tries: Dom du Toit (2), Rory Stanton, Olwethu Kosani, Liyema Tsoko, Theo Boshoff, Caleb Scheepers, Brent Smith, Lwazo Vyambwera. Conversions: Dom du Toit (8). Pretoria Boys High 5 (5) – Try: Ayabonga Mabuza.
Jeppe 29 (14) – Tries – Hayden Venter (2), Lethabo Mashao, Mbhalati Ndzalama. Conversions: Mbhlati Ndzalama (3). Penalty: Mbhlati Ndzalama. Westville 28 (14) – Tries: Jadrian Afrikaner (2), Bukho Sotaka, Hayden Weihman. Conversions: Jade-Will Koopman (4).
RESULTS
Played: 26| Maritzburg College won: 22 | Pretoria Boys High won: 3 | Drawn: 1
Maritzburg College vs Pretoria Boys High
u19
Maritzburg College II 55, PBHS II 8
Maritzburg College III 34, PBHS III 0
Maritzburg College IV 40, PBHS IV 5
Maritzburg College V 26, PBHS V 7
Maritzburg College VI 15, PBHS VI 12
Maritzburg College VII 19, PBHS VII 10
Maritzburg College VIII 29, PBHS VIII 19
Maritzburg College IX 44 PBHS 7
u16
A: PBHS 17 Maritzburg College 13.
B: Maritzburg College 20, PBHS 20.
C: Maritzburg College 10, PBHS 0.
D: Maritzburg College 20, PBHS 15.
E: Maritzburg College 25 PBHS 5
F: Maritzburg College 17 PBHS 5
u15
A: Maritzburg College 28, PBHS 19.
B: Maritzburg College 27, PBHS 10.
C: Maritzburg College 17, PBHS 5.
D: Maritzburg College 50, PBHS 7.
E: Maritzburg College 15, PBHS 0.
u14
A: PBHS 21 Maritzburg College 12
B: Maritzburg College 10 PBHS 3
C: Maritzburg College 17 PBHS 7
D: Maritzburg College 38 PBHS 3
E: Maritzburg College 33 PBHS 10
F: PBHS 36 Maritzburg College 8
Jeppe vs Westville Boys’ High
Played: 22 | Jeppe won: 12 | Westville won: 10
Jeppe II 35 Westville II 17
Jeppe III 22 Westville III 0
Jeppe IV 29 Westville IV 12
Jeppe V 17 Westville V 12
Jeppe VI 18 Westville VI 8
Westville VII 22 Jeppe VII 19
u16
A: Westville 34 Jeppe 21
B: Jeppe 41 Westville 14
C: Jeppe 19 Westville 13
D: Jeppe 16 Westville 7
u15
A: Jeppe 32 Westville 21
B: Jeppe 14 Westville 7
C: Jeppe 24 Westville 17
D: Westvlle 26 Jeppe 17
E: Westville 29 Jeppe 0
F: Jeppe 12 Westville 10
u14
A: Westville 20 Jeppe 10
B: Westville 12 Jeppe 10
C: Westville 38 Jeppe 31
D: Westville 53 Jeppe 7
E: Westville 57 Jeppe 19
