Northwood signs off on outstanding season with a win at Glenwood
After winning on Dixon’s Field for a first time in 2023, Northwood made it back-to-back on Glenwood’s home ground with a 31-17 victory on Saturday, which brought down the curtain on an outstanding season for the Knights.
Durban High School (DHS) was the best team in KZN in 2024, with Northwood not far behind the Sharks-laden outfit, and it took DHS a second bite at the cherry to defeat the Knights after the sides shared a 7-7 draw on Reece-Edwards Field. The Horseflies picked up a hard-fought 18-11 win at home on 20 July when the teams met for a second time.
That game on Van Heerden Field, in the words of DHS Director of Rugby, Peter Engeldow, was a “Test match”. The Dixon’s Field clash was keenly contested but not as much of an attritional arm wrestle. From the start, Northwood tried to play the ball out wide to their wings.
Most of the early action took place in the Glenwood half, but it took the Knights 10 minutes to breech the hosts’ defences. With their pack driving well and setting the Green Machine on the back foot, the visitors broke through by attacking the right-hand corner before flinging the ball down the backline and putting Savio Stevens over in the left-hand corner.
The conversion, by Stevens, three metres in from the touchline, was good.
From the kick-off, Northwood surged back onto the attack and their robust pack drove hard at the hosts’ defence, denting it and gaining ground. That told eventually as their big tighthead Abulele Kuleku crashed over for another five points.
The conversion kick was a whole lot easier, but this time Stevens pulled it to the left of the uprights. A quarter-of-an-hour was in the book, and it appeared as if Glenwood might be brushed aside.
The Green Machine, however, found a perfect response. Almost immediately, they forced their way onto the attack, taking the ball through numerous phases as the Knights’ pack had to put in hit after hit to stop a series of pick-and-goes. In the end, those charges bore fruit as captain Junior van Wyngaardt broke to the blind and went over wide on the left for a try.
From the restart, most of the play took place between the halfway line and the Glenwood 22, with Northwood probing and the home team standing firm. Northwood’s small but sturdy inside centre Bongane Khumalo was having himself a whale of a time, challenging the Green Machine’s defenders and leaving a good number of them trailing in his wake with his quick feet and low centre of gravity.
With halftime beckoning, Glenwood conceded a penalty and Northwood kicked for the right-hand corner. From a clean take, the pack took it to the hosts and powered their way over for a try from their hooker Werner van Niewenhuizen. Another Savio Stevens conversion made it 19-5 at the interval.
Based on the first half, it appeared as if it would be smooth sailing for coach Jacques Deen‘s charges, but Glenwood has tended to play better rugby in the second half of their games during the course of the 2024 season and that was again the case on Saturday.
Early in the second stanza, they reduced the deficit, catching the Knights out by reversing direction from a five-metre penalty to send Michael Ize-Iyamu over for a try in the left-hand corner.
Northwood produced a strong response, working their way deep into the Glenwood 22. As they built through many phases, they appeared set to add to their tally. However, when their general at flyhalf, Siya Nkosi, tried to outflank the hosts’ defence with a long skip pass, Lizwe Mtetwa snatched the ball out of the air and charged 80 metres down the field for another Glenwood try.
Juan Viljoen knocked over the easy conversion and there were only two points in the contest. Glenwood was back in the game. With less than 10 minutes to go, the outcome had not yet been decided.
But when the Knights were awarded a penalty five metres from the Green Machine’s try line, their big loosehead Reuben Vos took the shortest route to the in-goal area, charging his way through a number of defenders to make the dive for five. His try meant that every member of the Northwood front row had scored.
Stevens was narrowly wide with his conversion attempt. Glenwood could draw level with a converted try.
Instead, the Knights had the final say in the game. A sweeping move from the left flank to the right-hand corner put Kwenzo Dlamini over for the visitors’ fifth and final try.
Stevens bounced his conversion kick off of the crossbar and over, and Northwood completed a 31-17 victory.
Throughout the match, the visitors’ pressure in the tight scrums and especially at lineout time was telling. The manner in which they challenged the opposition on their throw-ins was one of the calling cards of the Knights all season long.
“We do our homework. Ethan Macey and Vuyo Gwiji read the lineouts nicely,” coach Jacques Deen said. “We go according to zones. If we can take away their veges, they can’t play. We try to suffocate them and put as much pressure as possible on them, so that they make mistakes, and we can play from there.”
For Glenwood, 8th-man Jordan Hargreaves enjoyed a good game, making some strong runs off the back of the scrum, while fullback Leo Weber showed enterprise on the counterattack and put his body on the line to stop what looked like a certain Northwood try late in the game. Their second half try scorer Lizwe Mtetwa looked dangerous on the attack.
Northwood finished 2024 with a record of nine wins, one draw and three losses. “It has been a really, really good season,” Deen said. “I think this is a really special bunch of boys and, as you saw today, if they do what they’re capable of doing, there’s no turning them back, so I am really proud of them.”
Getting up for the Glenwood clash was not an issue, he added, even after the brutal battle against DHS a week earlier. Deen explained: “The big thing was we had 10 grade 12 boys playing today. For them, it was a special occasion. That was enough motivation for them… It was absolutely amazing today.”
Reflecting on Northwood’s strong season, which surprised many, the coach said he hadn’t been surprised: “It was expected, to be honest. We knew from the last three years about these boys coming through our system. It was just a matter of time before they put it together and, looking at them today, I am looking forward to next year with the grade 11s coming through. Northwood is in a good place.”
Asked to pinpoint what the players had done to produce outstanding results all season long, Deen said: “The boys have made it a success because of their ability to play with the ball. It’s unbelievable. From the backline to the forwards, it was incredible. They’ve got hands. They can attack, they’ve got a kicking game, and then we go and we maul and scrum like that. It’s a complete package.”
Scorers
Northwood 31 (19) – Tries: Werner van Nieuwenhuizen, Reuben Vos, Kwenzo Dlamini, Savio Stevens, Abu Keleku. Conversions: Savio Stevens (3); Glenwood 17 (5) – Tries: Junior van Wyngaardt, Michael Ize-Iyamu, Lizwe Mtetwa. Conversion: Juan Viljoen.
Results
u19 – Glenwood I 17 Northwood I 31; Glenwood II 17 Northwood II 17; Glenwood III 0 Northwood III 15; Glenwood IV 0 Northwood IV 40
u16 – Glenwood A 24 Northwood A 45; Glenwood B 0 Northwood B 29; Glenwood C 31 Northwood C 12
u15 – Glenwood A 12 Northwood A 10; Glenwood B 10 Northwood B 21; Glenwood C 7 Northwood C 43; Glenwood D 20 Northwood D 12
u14 – Glenwood A 8 Northwood A 0; Glenwood B 26 Northwood B 7; Glenwood C 40 Northwood C 0
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