Saturday saw Glenwood travel up the hill to play at Botha’s Hill once again, after both teams’ participation the previous weekend at the successful 16th Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival.
The Kearsney faithful could not have asked for a better start from the One-Stripe, as vice-captain Doan Nel crossed the whitewash from the kick-off with only 33 seconds on the board, following a sniping break from Jayden Jonsson.
Two minutes later, it was Nhlanhla Ndlovu's turn to outrun the defence and score an electric try from the kick-off. This put the hosts 12-0 up with only three minutes on the clock.
Glenwood were next to score following some brutal ball carries by their large forwards, who put their backs on the front foot with a slick change of direction play.
The two teams then traded blows with a further try for Kearsney by Mark van der Merwe, and Glenwood crossed the whitewash twice more, to turn the half leading 24-22.
The second half started a little slower than the first. It was Glenwood who opened the scoring with a slick move from a scrum, which saw Kearsney’s Lwazi Mbebe fall for a dummy and allow Glenwood to take the score to 31-22.
The scoreline remained like this with six minutes to play in the game, with all signs pointing towards a Glenwood victory.
Ndlovu, however, had different ideas and fed Mbebe from a midfield scrum before getting the ball back from him, to out-run the defence and score another pulsating try in the corner. This took the tally to 31-27 to Glenwood with two minutes to play.
It was then the chance of Nel to ignite the Kearsney supporters with an unbelievable try and score in the corner after Valentino Lenge’s show of speed on the edge saw him get behind the Glenwood defence and offload inside to the hard-working centre Nel.
Kearsney were then able to hang on defensively and see the game out in a nerve-wracking last minute, after Glenwood missed a touch from a penalty, and Mbebe kicked the ball out to secure a hard-fought victory in front of the jubilant supporters on Stott.
Great commitment and a never-give-up attitude were displayed by the One-Stripe to take an exciting match against the Green Machine. Final score 32-31 to Kearsney.
