Kearsney satisfied with weekend matches against Northwood

KEARSNEY College hosted Northwood in an FNB classic clash on a pleasant afternoon following two days of rainy conditions.

Northwood dominated the opening quarter and eventually their burly number eight dived over in the left-hand corner resulting from a quick tap penalty to which the hosts were slow to react.

ALSO READ: Slam dunk for Kearsney boys

The visitors’ persistence and domination continued and they were rewarded again with a converted try from a well-executed counter attack resulting from a poor return kick and defense. Northwood deserved the 12-0 lead after 20 minutes play.

Kearsney regrouped well and soon turned over a lineout, close to their own 22m. They moved the ball down the back line and, after two breakdowns, fly half, Taine Muirhead broke the defensive line, finding full back Jacques Odendaal at full flight. He timed his feed to winger Mark Pretorius who scored in the left corner for an unconverted try.

The hosts found their rhythm and within three minutes scored another brilliant try, where forwards and backs combined well. Muirhead enjoyed another line break to feed eighth man Andrew Harding who found flanker Taine Polzi on his inside, who outsprinted the defence to dive over near the upright. Muirhead converted and brought the scores level at 12-all until halftime.

Kearsney dominated territorially the first 10 minutes of the second half and capitalised on two Muirhead penalties to take the lead at 18-12.

The next try must be the most memorable of the match by flanker and man of the match Sibu Sangweni. He provided a seldom seen solo effort of this quality from close to his own 22m, beating a number of defenders to score a spectacular long range try in the left-hand corner.

ALSO READ: Kearsney boys selected for provincial sports teams

Northwood responded soon afterwards with a penalty to close the score to 15-23.

Kearsney had the better of the remainder of the match but failed to capitalise on opportunities. Credit to Northwood for playing to the end, after Kearsney failed to close the match from a penalty for touch which saw the visitors scoring a converted try, for a final score of 23-22 to the hosts.

Outstanding players for Kearsney were Sangweni, Muirhead, Polzi, Odendaal and Harding.

Hockey

This was a game of missed opportunities for the Kearsney 1st team as there was some good build up play which led to nothing. Kearsney controlled most of the game by moving the ball around well and got into Northwood’s circle with ease, but they found it difficult to convert their chances, thereby keeping Northwood in the game.

Kearsney eventually found an opening through man-of-the-match, Liam Maguire, to go 1-0 up. But not long after, Kearsney made a soft error which led to Northwood scrambling over a goal, to bring the score back to 1-1. This is how the game remained and both teams shared the spoils.

A major highlight for Kearsney was the debut performance of 15-year-old Grade 9 boy Campbell Duckworth. He will be an exciting prospect to watch going forward.

Do you want to receive news alerts via WhatsApp? Send us a WhatsApp message (not an sms) with your name and surname (ONLY) to 060 532 5409.

You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Highway Mail WhatsApp number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts