Not long before sunset last Tuesday, the Kingswood College and Mary Waters first rugby teams encountered each other in a highly dramatic beginning to the season that featured injuries, accusations and one team nearly walking off the pitch.
Not long before sunset last Tuesday, the Kingswood College and Mary Waters first rugby teams encountered each other in a highly dramatic beginning to the season that featured injuries, accusations and one team nearly walking off the pitch.
Tensions were already high in the packed City Lord’s Pavilion at Kingswood and soon after Mary Waters kicked off at 4.45pm, two penalty kicks were awarded to Kingswood that set the scoreboard to 6-0. Many spectators said that they felt referee, Jan Bosch from the EP Referees Society, missed crucial penalties that they believed had been due to Mary Waters.
Then eight minutes into the game Kingswood nearly broke through the Mawas' backline for a try, but this was interrupted when an injured Mary Waters player had to be carried off the field in a stretcher.
Minutes later a second Mary Waters player was injured and carried off the field which had the Mary Waters’ coach rounding up his team and ready to leave the field. They decided to stay when they got a penalty kick, but weren’t able to use it to their advantage.
Twenty minutes into the game 12 minutes injury time had already been added, but just before the end of the first half the Mawas converted a penalty, putting them on the scoreboard at 11-3.
The second half started with parents anxiously pacing up and down the sideline, despite constantly being told by linesmen to stand back, and an additional stretcher was placed next to the field.
Kingwood saw the scoreline another three times in the second half, twice with neat and clean breaks through Mary Waters's backline, but they failed to convert all three times.
The final score was 26-3 and after the game Kingswood coach, Quinton Tait said he was glad that their season was off to a good start. “I was happy with the way our scrums and lineouts and first time tackling went, he said, although he felt that the team needs to work more on ball retention and protecting our ball on the ground”.
Mary Waters principal Samuel Wessels congratulated the Mawas for playing with heart, but urged them to focus on ball possession. He also congratulated Kingswood on their win.
Brumbies coach Western du Plessis, who watched the game, commented that the Mawas' could pay more attention to the finer details of their approach, and he mentioned that injuries mostly occur during the beginning and end of a season.
