This weekend saw a celebration of sporting and other activities across the College campus for our Reunion 2022. Our Old Boys’ Association celebrated their 125^th Reunion, and the teams of the #RedBlackWhite played a full round of sporting fixtures.

Rugby

Most of College’s rugby matches were against a very strong Hilton contingent, and the school was proud to win 13 of the 16 games played against our rivals from “the hill”. Overall College played 24 rugby matches on Saturday, winning 19 and losing 5. 1^st XV Match Report (Mr Tim Orchard, 1^st XV coach) The main game between Maritzburg College and Hilton College providing a fitting end to the 125^th Reunion celebrations. After a minute’s silence for the Hilton scholar who tragically passed away last week, the much-anticipated match began.

Maritzburg College drew first blood with a penalty from the boot of AJ Knoetze after a good defensive read by Liam Prinsloo forced an error by a Hilton back who had been adjudged to have impeded Prinsloo with the try-line beckoning. Hilton soon hit back with a penalty of their own, but College soon found themselves pinned deep in their half with Hilton on the charge looking for the first try of the match. After a period of sustained pressure from the Hilton forwards, their loosehead prop crashed over for a converted try which seemed to energise the Hilton team. College hit back with a penalty to reduce the lead to just a single point but after the resulting restart, College was wasteful in possession which allowed Hilton to stretch the lead with a penalty of their own. College began to find some purchase in the match and began to exert some pressure on the Hilton goal-line with a series of maul penalties going the way of the home team. From one if these penalties, College opted for a scrum and much to the anguish of the home supporters, a Hilton back made an excellent read of the College attack and raced away for an intercept try when it looked certain that College would themselves score. This moment now put College on the back foot as they now had to attempt to reduce the fourteen-point deficit against a Hilton side who were now full of confidence.

Huge determination and grit from Maritzburg College’s Number 13 Liam Prinsloo in the 1st XV match against Hilton College.
Credit: Dan Beckett

The second half started off in a helter-skelter manner as both sides were intent on scoring the first points of the half with the honours going to Hilton with a penalty to stretch the lead even further. College eventually score their first points of the half when Joshua Munn dove over in the right hand corner to put the score at 23-11 and give hope to a late College resurgence but unfortunately schoolboy rugby is a cruel sport and from the resulting restart, College fluffed their lines and allowed Hilton to score straight away. This converted try poured cold water over any thought of a late College fight back as it now put the score at 30-11 and with College running out of time it would be impossible for them to overturn the nineteen point deficit. Maritzburg College still carried on bashing away at the Hilton side with the hope of scoring a try to reduce the deficit but they could not keep possession for long and allowed Hilton to kick one last penalty which took the score to 33- 11 and the victory was Hilton’s.

• College 11
• Try: Joshua Munn Penalties: AJ Knoetze x2 Hilton 33
• Tries: x3; Conversions: x2 Penalties: x3

Summary of Scores:

Hockey

Maritzburg College’s Red Army hockey teams fought hard in all of their 15 matches against the strong opposition from Hilton College, and no game was better than the clash between two strong 1st XI teams. College won 9 of their hockey games, losing 5 and drawing 1, with goals for being 35, and goals against just 17.

1^st XI Match Report (Mr Kyle Emerson, 1^st XI coach). The match on Pape’s on Reunion Day did not disappoint. It was going to be a tough encounter against a good Hilton team, and a solid performance was needed. A tactical battle ensued which saw College stifle and frustrate Hilton as they did not allow them to play their usual free flowing game Hilton struggled to match the high tempo and physical effort which College started the game with.

College created two good circle entries in the opening minutes but were unable to capitalise. Hilton would earn the first penalty corner of the match and Roan Marias made a breath-taking save to keep Kris Watt’s drag-flick out the goal. College earned the next penalty corner and Matthew Ponter got his flick off which was saved by the Hilton goalkeeper. Marias would make another good save just before the half time break to keep the score at 0-0.

Such was the strong defence by both teams, there were very few clear but chances in the game, except for the penalty corners. Even then, a couple of them were well run down by the first wave in the penalty corner defence in both teams. College had two penalty corners just before the end of the third quarter but couldn’t convert to take the lead. Matthew Ponter got a shot off by it went just wide of the post.

Five minutes from time was one moment which separated the two teams. A slapped ball through the midfield found Liebenberg in space who passed to Mda inside the circle. He pushed the ball wide of goal and it deflected off the foot off a College defender to change its course and bobbled over the goal line. It was an unfortunate way for the score line to change, and this was the difference between the two teams on the day.

Maritzburg College’s Matthew Ponter gets his drag flick away in attempt to open the scoring in the 1st XI encounter with Hilton College. Credit: Dan Beckett

College pushed hard for the equaliser and in the last couple of seconds had a circle entry, but Bryn Brokensha’s backhand shot was deflected just over the cross bar. The tactical execution was on point from the College boys, and they almost did enough to keep the Hilton team from scoring. The defence was rock solid, and captain Matthew Ponter put in a massive shift and had the game of his life to ensure that his team was up to the task. One cannot falter the effort and teamwork which the 1^st XI showed and they can be proud of being part of a memorable game on Pape’s.

Summary of Scores:

Soccer

All of Maritzburg College’s age group football teams are well placed in their respective league tables
as the season heads towards the knock-out stages.
Selected results:
U14A vs Kingsway, won 4 – 1
U16 vs Kloof, won 4 – 2
1sts vs St Nic’s, won 3 – 0

Squash

Maritzburg College had a number of their squash players involved in the final KZN Qualifying
Tournament of the season over this past weekend. Well done to the players who finished in the
following positions:
U.19:
S. Maharaj 1st
N. Moodley 4th
T. Pratt 5th
M. Mason 8th
U.16:
W. Galliers 3rd
U14:
T. Nana 1st
T. Kufal 2nd