Glenwood and Affies start friendhip
For the first time in their collective histories Glenwood and Affies faced each other in a multitude of sports at the famous Pretoria school over the weekend in what is sure to become a lasting and prosperous relationship.
As always, the 1st XV match was the highlight of the day, but the Green Machine was not as well-oiled as usual and succumbed to a larger, more efficient Affies outfit – Glenwood’s first loss since 10 June 2006!
Affies started at a furious pace with three quickfire tries and were 19-0 up in no time but, Glenwood absorbed the pressure in the opening 20 minutes and were rewarded with a goalable penalty in the 21st minute which fly-half Storm Pearton duly converted. Seven minutes later a superb backline move starting with an inside pass to right-wing Msizi Ngcongo on the halfway line led to Glenwood’s only try. Ngcongo after breaking through the middle then drew the full-back and floated a delightful pass outside to speed merchant Rudi Mazzaro who left the defenders in his wake. Pearton missed the conversion but suddenly Glenwood were back in the game and thanks to another penalty on the stroke of half-time the contest was up for grabs with the score at 19-11.
Glenwood started where they left off at the end of the first period and could have pulled the score back again but for a missed penalty in the opening exchanges. Unfortunately, from that point on the boys from Durbs could not last the pace as the ‘Die Wit Bulle’ saw red and ran in another four tries for a 48-11 victory.
It was not all doom and gloom on the rugby front as the Under-16As rallied in the final minute of their game with a try in the corner from hat-trick hero Bradley Bosman. The scores were level at 22-all with the conversion to come. Kobus Lourens accepted the challenge and slotted the ball between the uprights from the touch-line for a memorable 24-22 come-from-behind triumph. The seconds were the better team on the day but could not convert their dominance into points going down 12-3 while the Under-15As were undoubtedly the more skilful in their encounter only to lose 13-10.
Glenwood are already gearing up for the return trip in 2008 when they can have a good night’s sleep and hopefully play the first team match at 12 noon in the blistering Durban heat!
The scorers:
For Glenwood:
Try: Rudi Mazzaro
Con: Pearton
Pens: Pearton
