Kearsney beats Glenwood
Kearsney pulled off an upset when they came from behind to defeat Glenwood at fortress Dixons Field in a thrilling encounter. They ran out winners 20-14.
The second of Kearsney’s two tries was scored by captain and prop Jonno Deighton who dived over to clinch a momentous triumph with barely two minutes left to spare on the clock.
Much had been made of Kearsney’s chances to impress during this local inter-schools season but following a defeat at Hilton and a sub-standard performance against DHS, joyous visiting fans could have dreamt but scarcely hoped for such an outcome.
It was also the first time a KwaZulu-Natal first team had won on Dixons for many a year.
Captain Siyabonga Tom, who took on the kicking duties for Glenwood, was in fine form with the boot and he got his side off the mark with a fourth-minute penalty. It was to be Glenwood’s only points of a half in which they were pinned back and forced to do most of the defending.
Sandile Kubheka by comparison did not have things his way from the kicking tee, missing four from seven attempts during the game. The Kearsney centre nevertheless had a huge game and proved to be one of the biggest thorns in Glenwood’s side with ball in hand, employing a dynamic combination of speed, strength and skills to get passed many a defender during several promising runs.
Kubheka leveled up matters at 3-3 with a sixth-minute penalty.
Many would have described the weather conditions on the day as perfect, whereas in actual fact the wind on the field was fairly strong and proved to be a major factor. Time and time again in the first half, Glenwood underestimated this wind’s strength and their clearance kicks into it, particularly those made under pressure either failed to find the comfort of touch or fell short of landing in strategically useful spots.
This often played right into Kearsney’s hands. More often than not the hands turned out to be those of Josh Devine. The assertive Kearsney fullback was sound in his decision-making after collecting ‘miskicks’, fearlessly carrying it up with unremitting purpose, intelligence and aggression on numerous occasions. Not once did he die with the ball or turn it over when he counter-attacked, instead providing ideal platforms for continuity.
From breakdowns Glenwood first up tacklers also struggled to come to terms with the might of the du Preez twins. With Seals controlling the tempo of the attacks and Tedder linking well with his centres Smith and Khubeka, the visitors mounted a series of early attacks that pinned Glenwood back in their own half, reducing them to scrambling defence and a couple of last-gasp challenges at times to keep their guests at bay.
But grim defence can only be sustained for so long and eventually Glenwood’s wall was breached in the 12th minute. Tedder’s clever diagonal run from 10-metres out created nominating player doubts in the minds of the drifting defenders and once the 16-year-old flyhalf saw his opportunity, he simply tucked the ball, upped a gear and dissected the two markers either side of him on his way to the try-line.
Khubeka added the extras to push Kearsney into a 10-3 lead.
The centre followed it up with another penalty from close range after Glenwood’s attempt to attack from deep misfired.
Glenwood got themselves into a few promising field positions and then failed to capitalise. The chief culprit was their poor lineout work, an area that had cost them dearly against Westville earlier in the season and returned to haunt them throughout this match as well.
The 13-3 halftime lead was handy. However, given Kearsney’s domination and the wind factor, it had to be felt that the visitors had not cashed in on their attacking pressure.
The half-time talk did Glenwood the world of good.
Time and again over the years the Green Machine have shown at the highest levels that all they need is a lapse in concentration or lack of discipline by their opponents, to be able to inspire their team against whatever confronts them.
The resilient Glenwood came out firing in the second period. Within two minutes of resuming play, Carel Swart broke off the back of forceful scrum, fed his livewire scrumhalf Mthokozisi Mkhabela who had looped and used the numerical advantage on the blindside to coast in for an unconverted try.
It was appropriate that the SA Academy scrumhalf had been rewarded with the five-pointer. He turned out to be the catalyst sparking just about every Glenwood attacking move in the second half. Wise decisions, perfectly timed offloads and some smart box kicks kept the pressure on Kearsney as Glenwood monopolised possession and dominated the game for the first period of the second half.
The home team ground their way back into this game as Kearsney started to make the mistakes and impeded under pressure.
It almost felt like Kearsney had lost the lead in the blink of an eye, however in truth it took all of 15 minutes. Tom first ate away at the deficit and his second penalty of the half on the 15-minute mark moved his team into a 14-13 lead.
Having had so much of the game in the first half it could have been morale-sapping for the visiting team to concede the lead but this Kearsney side is made of sterner stuff.
The one-stripes found their second wind. Their plans seemed to start working well again and their variation in their play began to put Glenwood on the back foot once more.
However as in the first half, points against Glenwood appeared hard to come by.
Finally Kearsney threw everything into a massive sustained red-zone onslaught towards the end of the game.
Deighton then made it an afternoon Kearsney will not forget for a long time. Close to the goalline, the 115kg prop clung onto the pass and forced his way by defenders.
The try triggered unbridled delight in the nearby visiting schoolboy stand. It was a score made possible by patient and strong-minded attacking.
The extra points were added by Tedder.
The entertaining game ended a couple of minutes thereafter at 20-14.
For Glenwood, the defeat means it’s back to the drawing board. There is still a long season ahead and many opportunities for this team to redeem themselves and achieve success.
Kearsney with this performance have established a winning and more balanced style of play that they now need to build onto if they are to sustain an outsider’s challenge to be the top team in KwaZulu-Natal this season.
The teams:
Glenwood: 15 W Potgieter, 14 D Coulson, 13 N Marwana, 12 N Mcuma, 11 S Tom (captain), 10 U Makasi, 9 M Mkhabela, 8 C Swart, 7 S Bracco, 6 R Kay, 5 M Van Aardt, 4 M Mazibuko, 3 M Coetzee, 2 S Pina, 1 M Worral-Clare.
Kearsney: 15 J Devine, 14 T Ndlovu, 13 S Kubeka, 12 T Smith, 11 I Ngidi, 10 T Tedder, 9 D Seals, 8 A Schramm, 7 J Du Preez, 6 J Hayes-Hill, 5 D Du Preez, 4 J Hirshovitz, 3 B Karnezos, 2 J Meaker, 1 J Deighton (captain).
By Beet
