DHS chase Glenwood to narrow loss

DHS delivered a brilliant performance in front of a passionate crowd last week, but their best effort was still not enough to topple the unbeaten Glenwood for the first time in 10 years.

Glenwood will be happy with the victory that takes their tally for the season to 13 in as many matches, but while they played well in patches their overall performance was disappointing.

After a period of sustained pressure on DHS, Maarten Holtzhausen finished off two well-worked team tries scoring in both corners for his team but was unable to convert his own tries which gave the Green Machine a 10 – 3 advantage inside the first quarter of the game.

With the crowd spurring them on close to Glenwood’s tryline, DHS struck back with a try by speedster Tonderai Ndudzo taking the score line to 8 – 10 in favour of the visitors, before prop Tian de Jaer barged over minutes later for a try to put the hosts 13 – 10 up at the half time break.

Glenwood’s discipline let them down throughout the first half and at the start of the second, the referee lost his patience with them and yellow-carded outside centre JC Conradie for a dangerous tip-tackle. The offence offered scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba an opportunity to extend DHS’s lead and he coolly stepped up to slot the kick, extending their lead to 16 – 10.

Glenwood, with Holtzhausen marshalling their attack with a number of spirited line breaks, rallied back with two quick-fire tries that prove to be DHS’s undoing.

First, blindside flank Jonathan O’Neill backed himself with a powerful run down the left-hand touchline putting Glenwood back in front by one point, two minutes later inside centre Seun Maduna then left two tacklers in his wake to cross again. Holtzhausen was successful with both touchline conversion attempts, giving Glenwood some breathing space 24 – 16 with nine minutes to play in the game.

With minutes remaining, DHS looked dead and buried, as the Green Machine pinned them back inside their own half. However, cynical play by centre Seun Maduna resulted in Glenwood finishing the game with 14 men. The numeric advantage aided DHS’s cause as the team rallied when open side flank Phendulani Buthelezi cut Glenwood’s defence to shreds to make it a one-point ball game.

There was still time for one last restart, but Glenwood were able to deny DHS from scoring with the last play of the match to ensure they were on the right side of an enthralling result of 24 – 23.