St Charles and Glenwood in cracking King Price Derby Series draw
St Charles College and Glenwood High played to a thrilling 26-26 draw in a King Price Derby Series clash on Old Orchards, in Pietermaritzburg, on Saturday, with Saints‘ flyhalf Caleb Sharp converting a try on the final whistle to earn the home side a share of the spoils.
“It was crazy! We had a lot of opportunities down there [at the end]. We didn’t quite finish, but it was crazy, beyond words,” St Charles’ coach Craig Dwyer told SuperSport Schools News after the game.
“It was important to get a result like this on our Old Boys’ Weekend. Both sides have been struggling this year for victories. But it was a helluva battle. We knew they were going to come hard. They’re a very proud side.
“They [the St Charles players] were amazing, absolutely amazing.”
“It feels like a victory. We’ll take it,” he smiled.
Glenwood’s Elgenio Oerson was named the King Price King of the Match, but St Charles’ lock, Joshua Harris, was right up there. He was imperious in the lineouts, a sure thing, providing his side with consistent quality possession, and he was committed around the field, putting in a huge shift by fronting up to the visitors’ physical challenge.
Glenwood’s coach Justin Hollis, whose side featured 11 Grade 11 boys and only four matrics in the starting line-up, was satisfied with his charges’ efforts: “It was a good game. Credit to both sides,” he said.
“St Charles played really well. We also played well. I’m proud of my boys. We have a young team, but you wouldn’t have said that from watching them today.”
The Green Machine came out of the gates strongly, controlling territory and possession. Saints sucked up the pressure and then showed how dangerous they could be by scoring from their first foray into Glenwood’s territory, with outside centre Nala Njabulo taking an outside gap to cross for a try in the 15th minute. Sharp missed the conversion attempt, but that was to be his only miss of the contest.
Having conceded, Glenwood struck back with venom. Within six phases of receiving a clearing kick after the restart, they replied with a try of their own, with scrumhalf Vincenzo Loutz diving over. That was the start of a purple patch for the visitors.
They soon struck again when Rosco Williams spilt a pass behind him. The other players paused, but he hadn’t knocked on. The referee waved play on, and the Glenwood fullback took full advantage of the reprieve, knifing into a gap with a vicious step off his left foot. He hit the gas, the field opened up before him, and he used Loutz on his inside to keep a defender occupied before diving over for Glenwood’s second five-pointer. Loutz nailed the easy conversion.
Shortly after, Loutz missed a penalty kick, but it worked out well for the Green Machine. Czech left-wing, Jakub Bednar, fielded the ball near the touchline, 40 metres out, after a St Charles drop kick from the 22, then beat four players on his way to scoring a fantastic solo try in the corner. Loutz made it even better by adding the extras.
Up 19-5 at the break, Glenwood was in the ascendancy, but Saints, roared on by an enthusiastic crowd on Old Boys’ Weekend, had plenty of fight left in them, and they took it to the Durban side early in the second half. For most of the second stanza, the game was played in Glenwood’s half.
“I was trying to get the message onto the field to go and play down their end and get a bit more into the kicking game,” the Green Machine’s coach, Justin Hollis, commented. That wasn’t easy in front of a loud crowd.
Within five minutes, St Charles had reduced the deficit by seven points, with hooker Dresden Coetzee driven over from five metres out, courtesy of a Harris lineout take, with Sharp converting.
St Charles enjoyed territorial dominance and made it over the Glenwood try line again, only to be held up in the 45th minute. Three minutes later, Glenwood hit back when hooker Tyler Leon sold a cunning dummy and raced through to score. Another Loutz conversion made it 26-12 to the visitors.
Still, Saints kept coming, and they quickly regained territorial dominance. It didn’t take long for coach Craig Dwyer‘s boys to reply.
Again, the driving maul brought a reward, with Coetzee crashing over for his second try of the match. Sharp added the extras to the elation of the crowd, and seven points separated the sides, with 18 minutes to play.
It took St Charles until the last minute to score again, though, in the face of Glenwood’s stubborn defence. With time almost up, the home side won a penalty and kicked for the right corner. Dresden Coetzee was stopped centimetres shy of scoring his third try, but with Saints pressuring the try line, Glenwood was pinged for a high tackle.
St Charles took the tap quickly and, within three passes, substitute Blake Da Costa was over wide on the left. The home crowd celebrated, but their celebrations soon changed to a hush as Caleb Sharp lined up a challenging conversion kick. He bisected the uprights, and the home supporters stormed the field, buoyed by their side’s never-say-die fightback to snatch a deserved draw.
Reflecting on the contest, St Charles’s coach, Craig Dwyer, commented: “In the first half, we were getting bullied in the collisions. For us, the plan was to use the ball more, get it out to the back and use that tail ball more, to stretch the Glenwood defence.
“Our message was simple, going into the game, if we could stay in touching distance, we backed ourselves to finish.
“The message at halftime was to get the ball to the edges and stretch their defence and tire them out, and I think it worked.”
Scorers
St Charles College 26 (5) – Tries: Dresden Coetzee (2), Nala Njabulo, Blake Da Costa. Conversions: Caleb Sharp (3).
Glenwood High 26 (19) – Vincenzo Loutz, Rosco Williams, Jakub Bednar, Tyler Leon. Conversions: Vincenzo Loutz (3).
Other teams
u19
II: St Charles 19 Glenwood 36
III: St Charles 17 Glenwood 29
IV: St Charles 7 Glenwood 17
V: St Charles 12 Glenwood 10
VI: St Charles 0 Glenwood 24
u16
A: St Charles 29 Glenwood 26
B: St Charles 7 Glenwood 30
u15
A: St Charles 17 Glenwood 14
B: St Charles 15 Glenwood 32
C: St Charles 14 Glenwood 25
u14
A: St Charles 10 Glenwood 10
B: St Charles 22 Glenwood 10
