Glenwood tie up Voortrekker

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:00

Despite the loss of 12 players who were selected to represent KZN against the Lions Craven Week side at the University of Johannesburg over the weekend, Glenwood still recorded a healthy 35-3 win over Voortrekker on Saturday.
 
The scoring was opened in the fifth minute thanks to an Msizi Ngcongo touch-down that was duly converted by flyhalf Matt Richardson, who got his first run-on in the green jersey, taking the score to 7-0. After an extended period of stout Voories defence wing Dries Els broke the shackles with a try in the 20th minute, Richardson slotted the two- pointer as the score remained 14-0 till the break.
 
Shortly before the break Els sustained a shoulder injury which put paid to his afternoon. He was replaced by Under-16A wing Eddie Smith for his first 'Green Machine' cap. A couple of minutes later a break down by the left by Ngcongo resulted in Smith's first try for the 1st XV after superb communication and a precise inside pass from the ultra-talented outside-centre Ngcongo. Richardson made sure of the conversion as Glenwood stretched their lead to 21-0. Flank JP Lafond (captain of the KZN Academy B team) went over the line in the 52nd, added to another Richardson conversion that would take the home side out of sight at 28-0.
 
Voortrekker never gave up and were rewarded for their efforts three minutes later with a superbly struck penalty, 28-3. To round off the game that kicked off in the midday sun, Glenwood engineered a superb backline move down the right-hand touch-line to set up fullback Levi Swartz. Replacement flyhalf Under-16 Fred Zeilinga, also enjoying his first cap for the 1sts, calmly stroked over the difficult conversion.

The final score line of 35-3 certainly highlighted Glenwood's depth and all seems rather rosy for 'The Green Machine' for a number of years to come.   

From Brendon Liebenberg