More success for Itembelihle

Itembelihle Comprehensive School of New Brighton in Port Elizabeth played in the KwaZulu-Natal Development Tournament in Glencoe over the weekend. They won all of their matches against regional teams.

The travelling was not easy – 14 hours to get to Glencoe but 24 hours to get back to Port Elizabeth because of breakdowns!

Theo Pieterse, the Itembelihle coach of more than three decades reports.

Our first game was against Zululand and they came to play, a big physical side. We were first on the board, when centre Ntsiko Fumba slipped through a gap to score a try, converted by flyhalf Simamkele Mcwabeni.

The Zulus then began to put us under pressure through their big backs, who were very hard to stop. From a penalty their lock simply barged over!

They were in the ascendency and kept us under pressure, and were rewarded with a penalty. At half-time Zululand led 10-7.

We changed our tactics in the second half and kept their backs under pressure with our rush defence. Wing Lutho Mdudo outpaced the defence from a scrum on their 10-metre line to score in the corner for Mcwabeni to put the difficult conversion over. 14-10 to Itembelihle,

The game swung up and down, with the Zulu forwards getting a lot of possession for their backline, but they were frustrated  by our rush defence and their indiscipline were punished by many penalties. Wing Mdudo, used his power to barge over in the corner for a try, again beautifully converted by Mcwabeni. Mcwabeni now controlled the game on attack, forcing the Zul’s to turn around with some clever tactical kicking.

The final score was 21-10 to us. This was going to prove to be our toughest game as they ended second in the competition. Man of the match was flyhalf Mcwabeni.

Our second game was against Midlands, and we eventually destroyed them 49-0. We started slowly, with our backs getting a lot of ball and Mcwabeni using his backs to good effect. Big 1,9 m lock, Olwethu Ngesi, opened the scoring when he powered over for a try under the poles, converted by Mcwabeni. Flank Sinoxolo Mayinje was next to score when he broke through from a ruck in Midlands' 22. Siya Sogoni (wing) converted. Scrumhalf Bathandwa Matrose, was next when he slipped through a gap from a ruck to score under the sticks. Sogoni converted.

Flyhalf Mcwabeni was next on the scoreboard, when he sidestepped his way through the opponents for another converted try (Sogoni). Half-time 28-0.

Midlands came out more determined in the second half, but wing Sogoni broke their resistance when he scored near the posts for a try converted by himself. Wing Mdudo, who was having a storming game, simply ran through four or five tackles to score under the posts for a converted try. Lock Ngesi then ran straight through some half-hearted tackles to score under the posts for Sogoni to convert. Final score, 49-0. Ngesi was deservedly named man of the match.

Our final game came on Sunday morning against Northern KwaZulu-Natal.

After some stubborn resistance early in the game, where they came close to scoring on a few occasions, we took control of the game and really entertained the big crowd with some beautiful running rugby. Wing Mdudo, was in destructive form, scoring five tries in the game, simply through sheer pace and power, definitely a prospect for the future! Sogoni added two tries and lock Litro Cebisi, who dominated the line-outs, scored two tries in two minutes. Diminutive flank Sibusiso Maduna entertained the crowd with a powerful try from his own 10-metre line, where he simply brushed his opponents aside for a powerful try under the posts. Scrumhalf Matrose and flyhalf Mcwabeni each scored a try with centre Sam Zwelinjani also grabbing one before replacement flank Ayabonga Mayigcwale scored the final try for a 90-0 victory. Lutho Mdudo was named man of the match. He also scored the most tries of the tournament, namely 10!

At the after-tournament function, Mcwabeni was named Under-17 back of the tournament and Itembelihle as the Under-17 team of the tournament.

Prospects for 2015 for me was winger Mdudo, flyhalf Mcwabeni and lock Ngesi.