Westville wins emphatically to seal unbeaten season
Westville Boys’ High visited Michaelhouse on Saturday with plenty at stake. There was the not insignificant matter of an unbeaten season on the line, and there was, also, Westville’s less than impressive historical record in Balgowan to overcome.
They overcame both hurdles in style, scoring the last 26 points on Meadows without reply to run away to an emphatic 50-20 victory.
Coach Zander Erasmus‘s boys rose to meet the challenge. They didn’t shrink in the spotlight, even when ‘House made it close by pulling to within four points early in the second half, trailing only 20-24. That’s when Westville hit the accelerator and Michaelhouse couldn’t hang with them.
The visitors showed just how dangerous they could be in the fourth minute by opening the scoring with a length of the field try, begun, not surprisingly, by fullback Zekhethelo Siyaya. He surprised Michaelhouse, though, when, after shaping up to kick, he sliced through a gap and beat three players before being brought down on the halfway line.
He had plenty of support on hand, though, with eighthman Sange Nkonki on his shoulder to take a short pop pass and keep the movement flowing. Centre Sean McGough fed wing Ntobeko Sithole, who used flyhalf Jade-Will Koopman on his outside to draw the defence before stepping off his right foot and sprinting clear to go over under the posts.
Koopman made the easy conversion, and the visitors had the early lead.
The visitors were full of confidence and were determined to win the game by seizing control of the contest, rather than managing it. Again, they ran the ball out of their 22, charging up the left flank and into Michaelhouse territory. When the home side conceded a penalty, instead of turning to the reliable boot of Koopman, Westville kicked to the corner.
With pinpoint precision, they converted the opportunity into five points. Lwandile Mlaba caught the throw-in cleanly and Brandon Eke, flying around the blindside received the ball from the lock in space to dive over for five points.
From up against the touchline, Koopman made it 14-0 by slotting the tough conversion kick.
In the 21st minute, disaster struck Michaelhouse. A long kick into the hosts’ 22 resulted in a 50/22. Michaelhouse fullback Alex Jankowitz thought it was his side’s throw-in, but Sean McGough quickly took it, and with nary a man nearby to defend, he collected the ball and was over or an easy five-pointer.
It was a gut punch to the solar plexus for ‘House and Jade-Will Koopman added to the pain by tacking on two points with another successful conversion. Westville led 21-0 after 22 minutes.
Three minutes later, Michaelhouse, at last, were on the scoreboard, courtesy of a Westville mistake.
An overthrow at a lineout inside the visitors’ 22 was picked up by the big tighthead Nicolas Salamousas, who dines out on drives at the try line from close range. He bounced off one would-be tackler and dragged another over as he crashed to the ground to give the red and white their first points of the contest.
Stefan Moolman drew further cheers from the crowd with an accurate conversion kick.
The number 10 was again on target in the 31st minute, sending a long-range penalty between the poles to lift Michaelhouse into double figures, trailing 10-21.
Coach James Fleming‘s charges had built up some rhythm and captain William Ridl set up a magnificent try just before the break, ripping through a strung-out Westville defensive line on the ‘House 10-metre line.
He charged through, chipped on the visitors’ 10-metre, and gathered his kick just inside the 22. He was dragged down only five metres short of the whitewash, but Ridl flipped the ball to Dan Aissing on his outside, and the scrumhalf went over in the tackle of Zekhethelo Siyaya.
Aissing, though, blotted his copybook by engaging in a bit of push and shove after scoring. That would cost Michaelhouse.
Moolman stuck over the conversion, but Siyaya then had a penalty on the centre spot because of Aissing’s ill-advised post-try activities. The fullback easily cleared the crossbar to add three points to the Westville total as the halftime whistle sounded. It was 24-17 to the Griffin.
Three minutes into the second stanza, Moolman landed a challenging kick from 40 metres, wide on the left, to make it 24-20, but that was as good as it got for Michaelhouse.
Soon after, from a quick tap, only five metres out, Westville surged at the line, drawing in the Michaelhouse pack. Then, captain Liam Simpkins picked out Siyaya ranging up on his left, and Siyaya slung a long pass out to McGough in a gap, and he was over for his second try.
Koopman, as usual, added the extras.
Westville bolstered their lead in the 45th minute, attacking off a good throw-in to the back of a lineout inside the ‘House 22. The maul was stopped, but Westville then reversed direction, attacking to the blindside. Michaelhouse appeared to have it covered, but Koopman stabbed a kick over the top and into the corner. Like a flash, centre Jadrian Afrikaner was onto it and forced the ball down for another five points.
For once, Koopman didn’t make the kick. Westville, though, had extended their lead to 16 points.
They had the bit between their teeth, and they kept hammering away at ‘House. Patiently, they bashed away at the try line through their forwards. With good timing, and Michaelhouse drawn in, Simpkins fed Koopman and then it was a case of outflanking the home team.
Avumile Lisa dived over on the right and Koopman converted to more than double Michaelhouse’s total.
The winners were not quite done yet, either. In the second last minute, they stole a Michaelhouse lineout and scrumhalf Simpkins sent the hosts’ defenders the wrong way with a sumptuous dummy before cutting back and racing down the right touchline. With a defender in front of him, he kicked ahead.
The ball was fielded by Laird Hamilton-Brown, who brought it up out of the 22. Michaelhouse retained possession, but when they tried to attack, Afrikaner read the play perfectly to pull off a simple intercept and score.
Koopman knocked over the conversion to bring up the half-century and Westville, once again, made it clear, they were KwaZulu-Natal’s number one in 2025.
Scorers
Michaelhouse 20 (17) – Tries: Nicolas Salamousas, Dan Aissing. Conversions: Stefan Moolman (2),
Penalties: Stefan Moolman (2); Westville Boys’ High 50 (21) – Tries: Sen McGough (2), Jadrian Afrikaner (2), Ntobeko Sithole, Brandon Eke, Avumile Lisa. Conversions: Jade-Will Koopman (6). Penalty: Zekhethelo Siyaya.
Results
u19 – Michaelhouse I 20 Westville I 50; Michaelhouse II 37 Westville II 28; Michaelhouse III 54 Westville III 7; Michaelhouse IV 47 Westville IV 7; Michaelhouse V 46 Westville V 0; Michaelhouse VI 50 Westville VI 0
u16 – Michaelhouse A 19 Westville A 21; Michaelhouse B 29 Westville B 19; Michaelhouse C 19 Westville C 21; Michaelhouse D 28 Westville D 0.
u15 – Michaelhouse A 8 Westville A 24; Michaelhouse B 19 Westville B 26; Michaelhouse C 17 Westville C 21; Michaelhouse D 24 Westville D 33.
u14 – Michaelhouse A 24 Westville A 19; Michaelhouse B 0 Westville B 26; Michaelhouse C 13 Westville C 47; Michaelhouse D 7 Westville D 57.
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