Westville survives Glenwood fightback, Northwood falls at Michaelhouse

On Bowden’s Field, at Westville, the home team stormed into a 20-3 lead against Glenwood, and it looked as if they would cruise to a straightforward victory. In the end, though, there were only three points in it, with the Griffin securing a 35-32 win over the Green Machine on Saturday.
Jadrian Afrikaner opened the scoring after 10 minutes, rounding the Green Machine’s defences down the left flank and Unathi Mlotshwa knocked over an easy conversion.
In the 20th minute, the visitors replied when Juan Viljoen kicked a penalty to get Glenwood on the board.
Griffin’s captain Chris Cloete then spun out of a tackle to crash over for Westville’s second from close range and Mlotshwa tacked on two.
The Westville flyhalf has been kicking beautifully and he had no trouble landing a penalty from near halfway, 15 metres in from the right-hand touchline. In the 36th minute, he added another from 10 metres out to give the hosts a 20-3 advantage at the break.
Earlier in the second half, Glenwood laid siege to Westville’s try line, hitting it up hard with the forwards running off the rucks. Then, when the home side conceded a penalty five metres out, in the middle of the field, scrumhalf Lian Lochner hastily took the tap and just as quickly laid on a pass for centre Sisipho Dwayi, who was running hard into a gap. He crashed through and was in under the poles. Viljoen converted to reduce the deficit to 10 points.
Westville responded, with some sharp handling putting Afrikaner in the clear on the left and he sped away to score his second try of the contest.
There was no give in Glenwood, and they set up a maul from a lineout inside the Westville 22. When the Griffin gave away a penalty, Lochner again caught them before they could organise their defence. The ball was taken into contact, then quickly released to the blind where a big overlap awaited, and Michael Ize-Iyamu dived over in the left-hand corner.
A penalty from Mlotshwa, then, made it 28-15. Glenwood were undaunted, however, and they again visited the left-hand corner, with a grubber setting up the score for Mvelo Ndwalane after a period of sustained pressure inside the Westville 22.
The excellent Lochner then made a long-striding break, with the Glenwood no. 9 finally being brought down five metres from the Westville try line by Jade-Will Koopman. The referee, however, ruled the tackle to be high and showed Koopman a yellow card while rewarding the Green Machine a penalty try. The visitors trailed 27-28.
The Griffin’s scrumhalf Ryan Pistor delivered a brilliant riposte. After the Westville forwards had knocked dents into Glenwood’s defensive line, they won a scrum near the try line. Pistor, taking the ball out of the back of the scrum, feinted to the right but then broke to the blind side, where he went over unchallenged to give his team the lead again. Mlotshwa converted and Westville led 35-27.
With time up on the clock, Glenwood struck back. Hooker Junior van Wyngaardt burst off the back of a well-controlled maul and dived over for a try. The kick was wide, and the final whistle sounded. Westville had withstood a serious fightback from Glenwood, winning 35-32.
On Meadows, in Balgowan, Michaelhouse made a strong start to force unbeaten Northwood onto the back foot early on.
Two tries from fullback Stefan Moolman, either side of a score by Rourke O’Sullivan, to which Northwood replied with an unstoppable maul for a five-metre lineout, took Carlyle Hawkins and company 21-5 clear, after Luke Davidson converted all three.
The Knights, though, struck back just before the break, with the backs and forwards combining well before the pack shoved their way over the Michaelhouse try line once more, which brought the score to 21-12 at half-time.
A penalty brought the visitors to within striking distance, but Davidson replied with one for ‘House, making it 24-15.
Northwood reacted to that setback with a relentless assault on the Michaelhouse defences. Led by their loose trio, Carlyle Hawkins, Riley Gehren and Robert Combrinck, the home side manfully fronted up, with the aforementioned trio doing a masterful job of turning over possession.
The Knights’ pressure eventually paid off when 8th-man Titus Cesonis burst over from a quick tap ‘n go, but time had run out on the Durban side and they fell just short, losing 22-24 and with that ceding their unbeaten record in 2024.
Westville 35 (20) – Tries: Jadrian Afrikaner (2), Chris Cloete, Ryan Pistor. Conversions: Unathi Mlotshwa (3). Penalties: Unathi Moltshwa (3). Glenwood 32 (3) – Tries: Sisipho Dwayi, Michael Ize-Iyamu, penalty try, Junior Wyngaardt, Mvelo Ndwalane. Conversion: Juan Viljoen. Penalty: Juan Viljoen
Michaelhouse 24 (21) – Tries: Stefan Moolman (2), Rourke O’Sullivan. Conversions: Luke Davidson (3). Penalty: Luke Davidson. Northwood 22 (12) – Tries: Titus Cesonis… TBC
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