COLLEGE TRIUMPH ON GOLDSTONES
Goldstones was the scene of what turned out to be a great game of rugby and an excellent win for the home team who were given a massive challenge by Westville Boys’.
Nothing separated the two teams for most of the match and College’s win can probably be attributed to the fact that they just had a little more fight left in them in the vanishing minutes of the match.
It turned out to be a battle of attrition and wits in the first half as both teams seemed intent on defending seeing that there were few opportunities as wave after wave of attacks were kept at bay by some committed tackling. Come scrum time there was a huge skirmish taking place amongst the big boys in the front row which saw Westville able to match the strong Maritzburg College boys in this department although there was very little to choose from in the tussle.
It was College who got the scoreboard moving when Matt Phillips hammered over a penalty after 15 minutes of hard rugby had already been played. Quick thinking by Westville exploited a bit of space on the blind side of a ruck and 8th man Eddie O’Neil was able to give Westville a 5-3 lead going into the break.
The second half opened up with both teams intent of running the ball more, a tactic which paid dividends as the tries started to flow.
Some poor work by the Westville locks led to College turning the possession over and the forwards and backs combined well to finally see the No. 15 Jesse Kriel skipping past the Westville defenders to score a great try for College. With the conversion successful College were back into the lead and they would never give it up again.
Another well struck penalty by Matt Phillips and College were out to a 13-5 lead and time was fast running out for Westville to claw themselves back into this match. However Westville refused to give up and went on an all out attack against a College side that appeared to be tiring quickly. A successful penalty kick by Keagan Boulle closed the gap to 13-8 and Westville looked liked they had the will to retake the lead.
However instead of taking points on offer from some kickable penalties, Westville went in search for tries and their adventurous spirit was paid off when the big prop Sithole thundered over the try line to lock the scores at 13-13.
Perhaps it was against the run of play or maybe it was sheer brilliance from College that broke the deadlock, either way it was a moment that the College speedster Lwazi Sithole won’t be forgetting for a while. Good work from prop Khumalo allowed College to punch a hole in the Westville defence which saw the visitors scrambling to stop the College wave. The College No.10, Calvin Olley spotted a bit of space and deftly combined with his forwards to put away Sithole who dived over for a five pointer in the corner. 20-13 to College and the fire was just about out from Westville.
With Westville running out of time to get back into the match, College got the ball out to Daniel Olley who ran rings around Westville to score the final try of the match and to seal the College victory 25-13.
A great game of rugby between the two heavyweights of KZN rugby and a result that could just see College taking to top spot amongst the local teams.
No comments:
Post a Comment