Strong second half lifts Maritzburg College to win over Glenwood
Maritzburg College captured their first win of the 2025 season, beating Glenwood 37-25 in an entertaining clash on Goldstone’s, on Saturday, in Pietermaritzburg.
College had gone down to Northwood and Durban High School (DHS), two of KZN’s top sides, in their first two outings, while Glenwood had opened their campaign with wins over St Charles College and HTS Middelburg.
In ideal weather for rugby, scrumhalf, Dom du Toit gave College an early lead from the kicking tee, but Glenwood struck back within two minutes through their captain, Lizwe Mthethwa, who was played into a gap after a good drive by the forwards up the left created an opportunity out on the blind side, and he finished well.
Joshua Koop tacked on the extras to give the visitors a 7-3 advantage.
College skipper Wasi Vyambwera came close to replying but was brought down only five metres from the Green Machine‘s try line. Glenwood, then, turned over possession and cleared to their 22m line.
The visitors worked their way into the College half, and when a lineout throw-in wasn’t handled cleanly, they were able to pressure the Red, Black, and White into holding onto the ball on the ground and the referee raised his arm to signal a penalty to the Durban side. Koop knocked over the kick from just outside the 22 and Glenwood moved seven points clear at 10-3.
Du Toit reduced the deficit to four points from the Glenwood 10m line after 26 minutes. Koop, though, responded with his third successful kick to put the visitors 13-6 clear.
Just before the break, College levelled when Amahle Hadebe crashed over the line, just to the right of the uprights, following a five-metre penalty. Du Toit had no trouble with the kick, and the teams turned with the scores even.
Early in the second half, for the first time since the second minute, Maritzburg College hit the front and it came from a special try from their Amahle Hadebe. Following good defensive pressure from College in the Glenwood 22, the visitors cleared to the right-hand touchline. A quick throw-in, though, gave College some space in which to play.
Two quick passes and Hadebe received the ball on the halfway line, in the middle of the field. He pinned his ears back and raced up to the Glenwood 22. Then, he beat the nearest defender with an outside break before cutting back inside, while selling a dummy, to wrong-foot the cover defence and go over next to the posts. Du Toit’s conversion made it 20-13.
Within a couple of minutes, Vyambwera and company struck again. Glenwood appeared to have a ruck covered just inside the College half, but David Colenbrander picked up and rocketed over the top of the ruck and away. On the opposition 22, he found support to his outside from lock Jaden Smith, who had done fantastic work to get up on the flank’s outside. He was dragged to the ground, but, with good vision, he picked out Adam Cahill and the wing rounded Glenwood to score a superb try. Du Toit continued his good form with the boot by adding the conversion.
Just eight minutes into the second half, Maritzburg College led by 14 points after the teams had turned at 13-13.
When a Glenwood lineout throw went awry inside the host’s 22 in the 53rd minute, the Red, Black, and White flung the ball down their backline, launching a long-range counterattack. They found space on the left flank and burned Glenwood to go over for five more. Du Toit rubbed salt into the visiting side’s wounds with another accurate conversion.
At 34-13, after three tries and three conversions without reply in the second half, College had broken the game open and it looked well and truly won. Glenwood, though, is renowned for a blue-collar approach and they kept working hard.
In the 58th minute, after bashing it up through their forwards, they broke through in the right-hand corner, to tack on five points to their total.
Shortly after the kick-off, though, they undid some of their good work when they conceded a penalty and Du Toit punished them, knocking over another three-pointer.
The Green Machine, however, had the final say in the match, completing the scoring with an enterprising try. A pinpoint cross-kick from centre Thamsanqa Ngubane picked out left-wing Mvelo Ndwalane, who immediately stepped off his left foot and cut inside. He offloaded to Joshua Edwards, who shrugged off a tackle and cut back outside before sprinting away to score in the left-hand corner.
Koop converted the challenging conversion to make the final score 37-25.
RESULTS
u19: Maritzburg College I 37-25 Glenwood I; Maritzburg College II 21-14 Glenwood II; Maritzburg College III 26-12 Glenwood III; Maritzburg College IV 50-0 Glenwood IV; Maritzburg College V 50-0 Glenwood V; Maritzburg College VII 50-0 Glenwood VI; Maritzburg College VIII 50-0 Glenwood VII; Maritzburg College IV 41-0 Glenwood VIII; Maritzburg College X 0-48 Howick II
u16: Maritzburg College A 30-10 Glenwood A; Maritzburg College B 15-5 Glenwood B; Maritzburg College C 10-5 Glenwood C; Maritzburg College E 12-10 Glenwood D; Maritzburg College F 28-18 Glenwood Er
u15: Maritzburg College A 26-21 Glenwood A; Maritzburg College B 29-7 Glenwood B; Maritzburg College C 32-5 Glenwood C; Maritzburg College E 15-5 Glenwood D; Maritzburg College F 28-18 Glenwood E
u14: Maritzburg College A 29-15 Glenwood A; Maritzburg College B 40-0 Glenwood B; Maritzburg College C 50-0 Glenwood C: Maritzburg College D 34-5 Howick A; Maritzburg College E 19-28 Glenwood D; Maritzburg College F 5-14 Glenwood E
