Glenwood win woods' contest
The Knights of Northwood made it hard for Glenwood but the southern visitors won well in the end.
It was a battle as Glenwood High took on Northwood at the Knights’ home ground on their Old Boys’ day. Northwood came out firing and the first five minutes saw some intense action with both teams looking to spread the ball in attack.
The first try came from an interception from Northwood which allowed their captain Gareth Murran to score in the sixth minute. The try wasn’t converted and the home team were up 5-0.
Glenwood immediately came back on the attack and a minute later had a three-man overlap which allowed eighthman Rupert Kay to score an easy try. Morné Joubert converted giving the Green Machine a 7-5 lead.
Glenwood were relentless in the next 10 minutes of the match and some running moves from the backline saw two further tries being scored and converted changing the score to 21-5 by the 15th minute.
Northwood never gave up and were awarded a penalty in front of the poles which Lindo Makhanye converted taking the score to 21-8.
The jubilation was short lived as a Green Machine line-out five metres from Northwood’s try line saw a rolling maul take Glenwood lock Ntokozo Vidima over the line to score. The try was not converted and the half-time score was 26 -8.
The second half was riddled with errors both from the players and officials which didn't allow for smooth game play, a total of 16 penalties against both teams caused a stop start second half.
Northwood received a penalty which was again converted making the score 26-11.
From then on both teams attacked but various errors cost either from scoring. Glenwood finally provided some entertainment when wing Shamandla ‘Sparks’ Ngcobo sprinted down the line and his talented footwork created massive gaps in the Northwood defence. Sparks fed the ball to fullback Morné Joubert who had a simple run-in to score the final try of the match.
Both teams continued to play but various mistakes probably caused by the heat on the day left the score at 33-11 in Glenwood’s favour.
Report and photograph by Brett Webber
