Underdogs College suffers narrow defeat against visitors Affies

Last weekend, nine sports and cultural disciplines from Maritzburg College competed in the annual exchange with African Hoër Seunskool (Affies) from Pretoria, while the canoeists achieved excellent results at the SA Surfski Championships in Durban.

Rugby
First XV coach Tim Orchard reported that the 1st XV match was definitely a main event of the Affies match, with College being the underdogs as their opponents have had an impressive season so far.

The match started brightly for the home team, who scored first through their SA Schools tight-head prop Aiden Botha, who struck over the line after a period in which the game was played entirely by the college.

Affies hit back shortly after when a well-executed backline move allowed them to level the scores. Flyhalf James Slevin put the home side ahead with a penalty on goal after College had stormed towards the Affies tryline.

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The theme of the day was that Affies then scored after a series of fluid passes, allowing their fullback to exploit the available space on the side and score, taking the lead again: 14-10.

Affies looked set to extend their lead again, but a spilled pass was happily picked up by Luyanda Kunene, who quickly made off and put the home team back in front (17-14) after the kick was converted.

Affies took the lead again after their winger exploited space on the flank with a series of precise passes and fired the ball into the right corner.

The kick was missed, but Affies looked to extend their lead further with the score now 17-19 for the visitors. College took the lead again via the boot of Slevin, who shot over a penalty to give College a small one-point lead.

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Just before half time Affies hit back with the simplest of tries when their eighth man went through the middle of a ruck on the College tryline to retake the lead. The conversion was successful and Affies led 20-26 at half time.

After the break College started well again and were rewarded with a kickable penalty, which they subsequently took to reduce the deficit to just three points. Affies, after a period of sustained pressure, took the lead again as they used their powerful maul to do the damage.

The score now stood at 23-31 and College had their backs to the wall. As has been proven earlier this year, this is a College team that refuses to give up and they were rewarded with a try shortly afterwards.

A quick penalty was taken and after a sharp exchange between the forwards and the full-backs, Swelihle Mbatha finished off a good passage of play for the home side. The score was back to a one-point game at 30-31 with 10 minutes to play.

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Affies hit back again as their flyhalf managed to exploit a drifting College defence and extend their lead by five points with a fantastic show and go. College again refused to lie down and worked the ball cleverly down the Goldstones left flank and a blindside attack worked a treat with Wasi Vyambwera diving in the corner.

James Slevin calmly slotted home the conversion, much to the delight of an expectant Basher Ridge behind him. College now held the lead 37-36 with just minutes to play and a hopeful home crowd rightly smelled a surprise.

This was not to be, as Affies was awarded a kickable penalty as time ran out and their flyhalf fired over the kick to win the game for his team. Affies won the game 37-39, but everyone in attendance was full of praise for the way the game was played.

Hockey
The College and Affies hockey teams were very evenly matched in a series of encounters which saw the home side record six wins and six draws in their 17 games, losing five. For the 1st XI the final result of a 1-1 draw was a tough end to a game in which they had dominated throughout.

First XI coach Kyle Emerson said the encounter started quickly, with College showing their early dominance. The intensity of their pressing did not allow Affies to string together passes or build momentum. This allowed College to dominate possession and territory for much of the first half.

The College defenders moved the ball deliberately across the grass and made many circular penetrations which led to a few early chances. The Affies goalkeeper put in a great performance and was able to keep the score at 0-0 until the third quarter.

Affies didn’t create many chances, but their best chance was a short corner that was saved in the circle by Dane Jackson before the ball was in danger.

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College continued their attacks in the second half and chance after chance was wasted until a counter attack saw Konigkramer commit a foul in the circle as he was about to shoot. This resulted in a stroke. Uyanda Dlamini stepped up and calmly slotted home the strike to give the home side the lead.

Affies did not give up and started to gain some momentum late in the third quarter when the College players made a few unforced errors. However, the College defense remained strong and Affies could not create any convincing chances.

But College would come to regret not making the game unwinnable, as with three minutes to go Affies scored the equaliser after the ball had rolled into the circle. A College defender made a misstep and the ball ended up with a well-placed Affies attacker, who managed to tap the ball into the goal.

Squash
The university squash teams secured a resounding victory in their encounters with Affies with a final score of 12-0, having lost only one game.

Cycling
The college cycling teams hosted Affies on the Knoll at Hilton over some excellent terrain and a great day of competition followed. Congratulations to the college senior team who emerged victorious, taking six of the top ten places including first, second and fourth. Well done to Affies who proved to be the stronger junior team, winning all five first places.

Tennis
The university tennis teams played very well against their Affies competitors, eventually losing 3-6 in the overall standings. However, there were also excellent individual and doubles performances.

Table tennis
The series of fierce matches against Affies brought the table tennis team both wins and losses. In the end, the home team won 11 of the 25 matches and lost 14.

Canoeing
The college canoeist competed at the SA Surkski Championships in Durban last weekend and achieved some excellent results.

Doubles U18
Keegan Vogt and Partner (Heather Clark) 2ndJayden JvRensburg and Partner (Senzo Ngcobo) 4th – Sally Upfold is the Marketing Director at Maritzburg College.