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Second half surge sees Maritzburg College to big win over PBHS

By Brad Morgan , in Rugby | Featured Rugby | News , at 2024-04-15 Tags: ,

Maritzburg College defender Nkululeko Sithole hands off a defender before bursting through to score Maritzburg College's second try. Photo: Justin Waldman Sports Photography.
Maritzburg College defender Nkululeko Sithole hands off a defender before bursting through to score Maritzburg College’s second try. Photo: Justin Waldman Sports Photography.

Maritzburg College hosted Pretoria Boys High on Goldstone’s on Saturday and there was a feeling of déjà vu about the result as the home team put together a powerful second half surge to win 43-15.

Last year, in Pietermaritzburg, College won 42-13, while the score in Pretoria was 47-15.

“It was similar to last year’s result, but Boys High were in the fight at halftime,” Maritzburg College coach Tim Orchard said, after the game.

“They scored just before halftime, from a maul. At halftime, we made a few changes in terms of how we defended it. They ran out of legs in the second half.”

Indeed, at halftime there was not much in it, with the Red, Black and White leading 21-15 after the visitors had forced their way over just before the whistle with a strong driving maul. After the break, however, College put up 22 points without reply.

It took the hosts six minutes to get onto the board and it came from a try by their Craven Week lock, Jake Jansen, who enjoyed a very good day carrying the ball. Flyhalf James Slevin converted from 10 metres to the right of the posts, and it was 7-0.

Eight minutes later, PBHS struck from a lineout 10m from the College line, with a quick transfer of the ball isolating a number of College defenders, who couldn’t contain the maul as it charged over the try line in the right-hand corner, with 8th-man Katlego Shebu dotting down.

College was on the board next, with centre Nkululeko Sithole handing off a defender and powering over the line after strong direct running from the forwards had sucked in the visitors’ defence. Another Slevin conversion further extended the home side’s lead to nine points.

PBHS enjoyed great success with their mauling in the opening stanza and that won them a penalty deep inside the College 22m area, resulting in Tebogo Nchabaleng knocking over an easy kick to make it College 14-10 Pretoria Boys High.

Then, a good run from Imivuyo Kemka took the Maritzburg no.8 to within five metres of the try line, in the left-hand corner. Shifting the attack, College moved the ball quickly through the hands to the opposite side of the field, where they were awarded a penalty. Before Boys High culd organise their defence, Kemka was put into a gap for another five-pointer. Slevin made it 21-8 by slotting the conversion.

Maritzburg College coach Tim Orchard identified flank Naz Isaacs as one of the Red, Black and White's top performers against Pretoria Boys High. Photo: Justin Waldman Sports Photography.
Maritzburg College coach Tim Orchard identified flank Naz Isaacs as one of the Red, Black and White’s top performers against Pretoria Boys High. Photo: Justin Waldman Sports Photography.

With half-time approaching, the visitors set up a maul from a lineout just inside the College 10m line. They marched forward towards the hosts’ try line, exerting force on one side of the maul and then the other. When College gave away a penalty, Boys High kicked the ball into touch and turned back to the maul which had been working so well for them.

Another good drive put Jeffrey Singo over the line and Nchabaleng’s successful conversion made it 21-15 to Maritzburg College at halftime.

Slevin got the scoreboard moving in the second half with a penalty before PBHS was made to pay for a missed lineout throw. College shovelled the ball quickly down the backline out to their left-wing Reinhardt Jacobsz, who crashed over the try line, in a tackle, to score. Slevin’s good day with the boot continued as College moved 18 points clear.

The pressure from the home team was unrelenting, with Boys High playing a lot of rugby deep inside their own half, and it told as Maritzburg skipper Rambo Kubheka forced his way over, with Slevin adding two more points to his team’s total.

The home team had built up momentum. The linking between backs and forwards was smooth and PBHS was now conceding metres at a time as College pounded their defensive line and Jacobsz was, once more, the beneficiary of some slick handling, diving over for his second try in the left-hand corner.

For once, Slevin was unable to make the kick, but the contest had been decided and Maritzburg College had won convincingly.

Coach Orchard praised the performance of Slevin, saying the number 10 had played one of his better games, and had distributed the ball well. He also highlighted the performances of the two men outside of Slevin, the centres, Nkululeko Sithole and Lee-Rynne Sinkfontein, who tore holes in the Pretoria defence throughout the game.

Summarising the match, during which he felt his team had produced its best performance of the season thus far, Orchard said: “In terms of forward play, it was definitely a step up, and there was more cohesion on attack.”

Scorers

Maritzburg College 42 (21) – Reinhardt Jacobsz (2) , Jake Jansen, Nkululeko Sithole, Imivuyo Kemka, Phiwayinkosi Kubheka, Conversions: James Slevin (5). Penalty: James Slevin. Pretoria Boys High 15 (15) – Tries: Katlego Shebu, Jeffrey Singo. Conversion: Tebogo Nchabaleng. Penalty: Tebogo Nchabaleng

Scores

u19 – Maritzburg College II 15 Pretoria Boys High II 7; Maritzburg College III 28 Pretoria Boys High III 7; Maritzburg College IV 15 Pretoria Boys High 0; Maritzburg College V 17 Pretoria Boys High 7; Maritzburg College VI 24 Pretoria Boys High VI 0; Maritzburg College VII 46 Pretoria Boys High VII 7; Maritzburg College VIII 49 Pretoria Boys High VIII 7; Maritzburg College IX 20 Pretoria Boys IX 12; Maritzburg College X 38 Haythorne 0

u16 – Maritzburg College A 13 Pretoria Boys High 8; Maritzburg College B 33 Pretoria Boys High 0; Maritzburg College C 18 Pretoria Boys High 10; Maritzburg College D 31 Pretoria Boys High 14; Maritzburg College E 21 Pretoria Boys High E 22; Maritzburg College F 27 Pretoria Boys High F 22

u15 – Maritzburg College A 31 Pretoria Boys High A 7; Maritzburg College B 35 Pretoria Boys High B 7; Maritzburg College C 36 Pretoria Boys High C 15; Maritzburg College D 20 Pretoria Boys High D 6; Maritzburg College E 19 Pretoria Boys High E 5; Maritzburg College F 34 Pretoria Boys High F 21

u14 – Maritzburg College A 7 Pretoria Boys High A 14; Maritzburg College B 17 Pretoria Boys High B 34; Maritzburg College C 26 Pretoria Boys High C 5; Maritzburg College D Pretoria Boys High D 0; Maritzburg College E 12 Pretoria Boys High E 0; Maritzburg College F 7 Pretoria Boys High F 8; Maritzburg College G 17 Pretoria Boys High G 7

Brad Morgan
error: Sorry ol' chap, those shenanigans are not permissible.