Westville unbeaten at DHS Festival
Match Report
Westville Boys’ High School’s 1st XV lived up to their reputation by winning both games at the DHS 140th Anniversary Rugby Festival over the past weekend.
On Friday Westville played against a very capable Dale College team. After a rusty start, Westville began to pressure the visitors at every opportunity. Dale managed to compete in the set pieces, but struggled to defend when Westville moved the ball wide. A rolling maul from a lineout in Dale’s 22m, set up the first try for captain Marc Colia. A few minutes later, KwaZulu Natal Under-16 captain Brynard Stander responded to a quick tap penalty from scrumhalf Tian Meyer to barge over for another try. Consolidated pressure in the second half resulted in two more tries, one a piece for wingers Wikus du Randt and Cameron Innes. Fullback Khaya Zondo also landed a penalty, and replacement flyhalf Jacques Venter converted one of the tries to take the score to 30-19 in Westville’s favour. The Westville lads stayed on to watch the main game between their next opponents, Massey High (Auckland, New Zealand ) and the hosts, DHS. It was a brutal affair, with the Kiwi visitors eventually running out 19-13 winners.
On Sunday Westville took on the highly rated Massey High from New Zealand. The game against DHS had given the local highway lads much to think about. Bone crunching tackles and lightning counterattacking epitomised the Kiwi team. However, it was Westville who dominated the first half, playing the game at a ferocious pace and matching the visitors in every contact situation. The Kiwi lads seemed stunned and struggled to build any momentum. Westville were first to score when fullback Khaya Zondo finished off a telling line break by centre Kurt Mavrodaris. Flyhalf Jacques Venter converted to take the score to 7-0. Another Venter penalty took the half time score to 10-0 in Westville’s favour. The second half was as exciting as the first, but it was the visitors turn to dominate possession. Westville displayed confidence and patience in defence, waiting for the opposition to make mistakes. A fantastic defensive display by centre Clarence Gwala resulted in countless turnovers in the midfield and often saved what seemed certain tries when the Massey backs had extra men out wide. With 10 minutes to go Massey pressure finally paid off as their massive pack drove a line-out to score in the corner. Westville replied with two late penalties from Venter to take the score to 16-7. The last few minutes saw Massey pounding the Westville line, striving for a late score. Once again Westville’s defence held firm and the Highway lads pulled off undoubtedly one of their wins of the season.
One of Westville’s standout players this season, hooker Francois Coetzer, has been selected for the SA Under-18 Academy team that will be touring Morocco at the end of August. Coetzer is one of the enforcers in the Westville pack, and this selection, after a series of fine performance as KwaZulu Natal Academy captain, is just reward for an excellent season.
By Jonathan Farrell
