College beat Hilton at Hilton

Match Report

Maritzburg College went up the hill and beat Hilton 32-14 on Saturday.

After Hilton had the better of the unremarkable opening moments, the match exploded into spectacular action when centre Gareth Melle was put into space in College’s 22 metre area and blazed down the middle of the field, beating defenders for pace and stepping past those who managed to reach him. After a thrilling solo run of more than eighty metres, he scored under the posts, and Travis Huntly flyhalf converted for a 7-0 lead.

The teams traded penalties before College drove over from a line-out for a second try, by lock Paul Bester. Although College had the better of the rest of the half and kicked a further penalty, Hilton stayed in the game with two penalty kicks by scrumhalf Rob Ferguson, making the half-time score 18-9 to College.

From the beginning of the second half, Hilton swept onto the attack and applied pressure for ten minutes before scoring a well-deserved try by wing Mikhail Maasdorp near the corner. College hit back immediately with a converted try by Stuart Balcomb wing to lead 25-14 but Hilton remained on the attack as College, persistently and inexplicably, tried to run the ball out of defence, making for exciting but very risky rugby. College survived enormous pressure with stern defence and, late in the game, broke the shackles with an attack that covered almost the length of the field and led to a further converted try, by centre Bruce Lockhart.

Although the final margin of 18 points would seem to reflect an easy win, College had, in fact, had to defend desperately at times to ensure victory.

Scorers:

For Hilton: 
Tries: Maasdorp
Pens: Ferguson 3

For College:
Tries: Melle, Bester, Balcomb, Lockhart
Cons: Huntly 3
Pens: Huntly 2

By Tony Wiblin