WBHS wins top KZN rugby tourney
Westville Boys' High School were the victors of the KZN rugby tourney at Glenwood last Saturday.
LAST Saturday, 6 September saw 20 of the top rugby 7s schools in KwaZulu-Natal converge on Glenwood High School for the annual Photonote Toshiba Glenwood Rugby 7s Festival.
This prestigious tournament provides the participating with schools the opportunity to compete for silverware and establish themselves among the best 7s schools in the province.
Westville finished top of their pool, scoring 109 points and conceding only 10 which was an outstanding statistic given the nature of the 7s game. At the conclusion of the pool stage it left St Charles, Michaelhouse, DHS and WBHS still in the hunt for the title in the cup competition.
In the cup semi-final against St Charles, the Westville team played some of their finest rugby by keeping the ball, attacking with width and pace and making huge tackles on defence, they we were able to score four well worked tries. St Charles on the other hand fought really hard in the opening stages and managed to score two unconverted tries to notch up 10 points for their efforts. This did little to stop the Westville team who were unrelenting in their goal of reaching their first ever final at this tournament. In the end WBHS ran away eventual victors by 28 points to 10, securing their place in the cup final.
The other semi-final was a fiercely contested match between DHS and the tournament favourites, Michaelhouse. The match went into extra time and with the teams still dead-locked after three minutes of sudden death play, the tournament rules came into effect which determined that the team that scored the first try of the match be declared the winner and so sadly for DHS, it was Michaelhouse who progressed to the Cup final.
As far as 7’s finals go, this was surely one of the best. The level of skill and frenetic pace at which the game was played between these two proud, traditional rivals was incredible to witness. Michaelhouse managed to breach the WBHS’s defence out wide on two occasions through their talented flyhalf and provincial 7’s player Barda Pretorius, but WBHS managed to reel him in through the determined defensive scrambles of Westville’s captain and key player Wayne Smith. In all fairness there was little between the two teams on the day. WBHS managed to score three outstanding tries through flyhalf Ruan Kotze, winger James Wheeler and centre Wayne Smith respectively, two of which were converted by prop Kevin Smit to notch up their 19 points on the scoreboard. Michaelhouse also managed to score three well deserved tries but only managed to convert one with Barda Pretorius uncharacteristically having an off day with the boot. He missed a crucial conversion late in the game which could have levelled the scores at 19 all. From the ensuing kick-off, with less than a minute to go and the score at 19-17 in WBHS’s favour, they managed to secure the ball and run the clock down, Kevin Smit eventually booting the ball into the stands to secure the win and crown Westville Boys’ High as the 2014 Photonote Toshiba Glenwood 7’s Tournament champions.
