Captain's profile: Ntuthuko Mthembu
With recent results going the way of Kearsney, Northwood feels a sense of pride, real privilege and honour to have a Classic Clash against them. Their philosophy over the years has not changed as they will always remain competitive and most definitely go in search of the win.
While Kearsney are the outright favourites, Mthembu and his charges are determined to dispose of that general perception.
"We have usually struggled against Kearsney, with them winning majority of our encounters, but we are always excited to change that. We know they are never really physical, but have always played a good, skill driven game.
"They know how to take any sort of chances presented to them, so we will have to be on top off our game to ensure we snuff them out. One way to go about it is that our mental attitude needs to be one of us playing this match as if it our first and last game.
"Last week's match is in the past and has no influence on this match. For us, all that needs to matter is our performance on Saturday," Mthembu said.
Mthembu knows all too well about this rivalry as he has been part of the first XV for the last three years and believes his captaincy style is unique.
"As a captain, I live for the moments when things are against us and we get the chance to fight back and show our true character. It is obviously never an easy job [being captain] but I love this team, so it is an absolute honour being given the extra responsibility," he added.
Northwood have had a tough season thus far, with results not going their way, however, the hooker believes his charges will be doing their best on Saturday, despite having a few injuries.
"The season has been a tough one so far as things have not gone the way we had planned but, nonetheless, we are doing our best in each game. Looking forward to Saturday, we have a lot of experience in our forward pack but we have been hit with the odd injury.
"Having an experienced pack of forwards will mean very little if we are not able to grind out a victory against Kearsney," he stated.
Having played in the 2013 Grant Khomo Week, Mthembu is hopeful of getting into the Sharks Academy and possibly playing some Under-19 matches for the Union, if fate allows.
