Westville in thrilling win
After a nail-biting finish which saw Glenwood score a winner after the hooter against Westville during preseason Port Natal Series final in February, it was the highly motivated Westville who turned the tables and recorded a memorable 18-17 win against their hosts in Durban’s biggest inter-schools rugby rivalry.
A big crowd had gathered for Glenwood’s Old Boys day and they were treated to all the elements that make schoolboy rugby the most exciting rugby package in South Africa at the moment.
Glenwood got off to a flying start and scored a fourth-minute try. It all really started when Westville attempted to carry the ball up from inside their own 22m but ran into trouble after Glenwood players arrived quickly and in numbers to effect the turnover at the tackled ball position. The ball found its way into midfield where a useful chip-‘n-chase by Glenwood centre Donovan du Randt, forced Westville’s pressured sweeper Brogan Boulle to carry the ball back over his own line and concede a 5m scrum. The set piece provided the springboard for impressive No.8 Marco Palvie to make his first meaningful ball-in-hand contribution. His onslaught was quickly followed by prop Christopher Klopper’s angled power run to get over for the try. Flyhalf Jerome Bossr converted to make it 7-0.
Westville opened their own account in the eighth minute via flyhalf Neil van Rooyen’s penalty, after scrumhalf Bryce Kitching’s quick tap-'n-go had won his team an extra 10m because Glenwood had not retreated the required distance before engaging. 7-3.
A try in the 27th minute saw the visitors taking the lead for the first time, a position they held onto for the rest of the match. Its origin was an attacking lineout near their opponents 22m line, which was won by No.8 Zane Heyneke and gave rise to an effective but slowish driving maul. When the formation started to dissipate and momentum was lost, Westville’s most dependable player this season Devon Muller broke off the back, dummied, and got over the advantage line to set up a new front-foot platform, which made it possible for his teammates to use the width of the pitch deep inside the 22m area. From the next ruck, a pass went to the player of the first half, lock Fudge Qoma, who with work still to be done, used a bit of physicality to burst through two tacklers directly in front of him and score, making it 8-7.
Glenwood had opportunity to regain the lead a few minutes late after a poor exit had the well-positioned Palvie collecting and charging back at full tilt. The in-from No.8 wasn’t given free rein to sow his seeds of destruction during this game as a result of very committed defending but on this occasion the carry led to an offside at the ruck penalty against the visitors, from which Bossr missed the kick at goal.
On 32-minutes, Westville who had enjoyed a noticeable territorial advantage during the half extended their lead via try number two. Overall Glenwood centre Maarten Holtzhausen had a good game but in this move when he tried to thread a grubber through a gap in midfield, it ricocheted off a Westville defender resulting in a turnover, which Ville’s standout 103kg hooker Hendrik Prinsloo took full advantage of aided by one of his signature explosive runs. The often underrated Neil van Rooyen then produced a perfectly weighted dink into an unguarded space behind Glenwood’s D-line and the evil bounce saw the hardworking speedster Tonny Mahangu enjoying the benefits of having the favourable line. He controlled the ball at the second bite and finished under the sticks in style. Van Rooyen converted to make it 15-7.
Mistakes from or shortly after halfway restarts cropped up as an issue for both teams. Very soon after the next kickoff, Bossr reduced the deficit to 15-10, once Westville were penalised for holding. From the kickoff that followed, Qoma got into a good penalty winning body position over the ball after a good take by Lencho Brynard but slow support from his teammates once he’d been sacked. Van Rooyen however missed the shot at goal.
The referee endorsed the new playing time rules introduced for school rugby this season, which saw the game continuing well beyond the 35-minute running time mark and Glenwood nearly profited from a poor exit by fullback Shane Ball, which triggered a good run by his opposite number Jayden Morgan, who provided spark on attack at different times during the match.
At halftime it was 15-10 to Westville.
Three minutes after the break, Van Rooyen landed a penalty to grow Westville’s lead to 18-10.
During a passage of play started around the 10th minute of the half, Glenwood came up with a series of offensives which caused Westville a lot of distress and led to numerous penalties being awarded to Glenwood, including one that appeared to be for a cynical knock-down very near the try-line. Glenwood resisted the urge to go for goal and instead tried to reduce the two score deficit via lineouts and tap ‘n go takes. The likes of Palvie, Klopper and Bossr all had goes at the line and but were stopped by a gutsy and organised defence. Morgan dropped a ball close to the line as well. Even when a bit of relief was gained, it was Holtzhausen who made the first of his two pleasing line breaks for the match, with this first one reigniting the relentless goal line intensity, assisted once again by Palvie’s ability to get over the gain line. Twice Prinsloo came to Westville’s rescue with timely interventions, the second one delivering in a good long ball-carry out of his 22m area. The end result was that Glenwood crucially did not come away with a single point form this attacking stanza.
Westville’s best try-scoring opportunity of the half was initiated by an excellent in his tracks stopping Kitching tackle on Palvie when the latter tried to break off the back of a scrum on his own 22m line. This led a knock-on and from the scrum, Ville’s set move put fast-moving centre Sishle Mhlamvu into a hole. He was denied by a superb try-saving tackle by Bossr.
In the 27th minute more excitement was produced as Westville’s attack resulted in a Glenwood counter in which wing Ilunga Mukendi featured. Then another crucial moment followed soon afterwards as Glenwood ran a ball out of their own 22m area, set wing GJ Lubbe off on a long run down the left touch with plenty of support players on his inside. It was all in vain though the wing had placed a foot on the touch line while still inside his own half of the field.
With time running out Glenwood’s Morgan and Holtzhausen both found gaps to set up their best finisher du Randt but he uncharacteristically knocked on the pass inside the Westville 22m area with very little to get in the way of his scoring.
Unlike earlier in the half, Glenwood now had little choice but to tap ‘n go from penalties – especially with their lineouts where also not guaranteed ball. Palvie again showed up with a big carry but he was held up over the line by Westville’s dogged tacklers. One good rolling maul, along with more bashes and snipes at the try-line continued for the next few minutes, with several Glenwood players dropping the ball at critical times. Westville finally had an opportunity to clear the danger from a 5m scrum but decided to attempt a rather adventurous blindside run from behind their own goal-line, which had it come off might have seen them go coast to coast. The pass from Kitching to Ball was however a poor one and dropped, requiring the off-balance athletic Ball to improvise with a spectacular acrobatic kick to save blushes. The freakish kick ended up in the middle of the 22m area where a Glenwood player caught it and drove forward. Finally the home team got rewarded for all their redzone pressure when flank Alex Brummer crossed the line with a lot of effort. Bossr converted to make it a one-point game at 18-17.
There was still time for one more Glenwood assault. Westville’s defence stood firm and won a penalty well inside their own half, which they duly cleared off the field to bring the curtain down on an thrilling game.
The emotions displayed by the two sets of players after the game were in itself a sight to behold as it provided a clear indication of how every single player on the park had given it his all during this game.
By Beet via Hannelie Erasmus
Photograph of Glenwood eightman, Marco Palvie, by Wandile Dlamini (Glenwood Media Club)
