College win well against Kearsney

Match Report

On Goldstone's on Saturday Maritzburg College beat visitors Kearsney 20-10.

This was expected to be a very close match, with both sides ranked on the FNB Top 20, College five places above Kearsney in a tight contest – and so it proved to be.

Neither side was in the mood to be gentle and the physical confrontation was mercilessly hard, though scrupulously clean. The mighty struggle for physical dominance was not won by either side, but College did establish a clear territorial advantage and often hammered away at the Kearsney line. The tackling, though, from both sides, was punishing and defences clearly had the better of the day.

After Kearsney had opened the scoring with a long-range penalty by their flyhalf, Peter Grunow, College replied with one of their best tries of the season, precise handling in the backline being rewarded with an overlap for right wing Stuart Balcomb and a try under the posts, converted by flyhalf Travis Huntly.

Kearsney fought back and, when College heeled a tighthead close to their own line but failed to control the ball, scrumhalf JP Robert was on hand to score the try, converted by Grunow.

A College penalty by Huntly, shortly before half-time, levelled the scores. Playing with the wind at their backs in the second half, College enjoyed a significant territorial advantage, but found Kearsney’s defences difficult to breach.

An early Huntly penalty brought College a 13-10 lead, but they could not finish off several promising opportunities. For nearly twenty minutes they kept Kearsney under immense pressure, but could not record the score that would have settled the match.

Then Kearsney broke the stranglehold and had a couple of chances of their own, including an easy penalty kick which was fluffed. But College had the final word when they returned to the attack, won a tighthead near the Kearsney line and eighthman André Greyvenstein drove over for a converted try and a 20-10 win.

It had been an enthralling match.

Scorers:

For College:
Tries: Stuart Balcomb, André Greyvenstein
Cons: Travis Huntly 2
Pens: Travis Huntly 2

For Kearsney:
Try: JP Roberts
Con: Peter Grunow
Pen: Peter Grunow

By Tony Wiblin