15 March 2026
Clifton College and Maritzburg College shared an enthralling 2-2 draw on the Riverside Sports Club Astro on Saturday morning.
Early on, College was in total control, with Clifton, who had beaten Kearsney College comfortably the previous evening, still trying to get their legs moving as the visitors moved the ball impressively. The home team had barely touched the ball before the Red, Black, and White took the lead through Matt Smith.
They thought they had gone 2-0 up shortly after that, but the umpire ruled the shot that beat goalkeeper Georg Wolhuter had been from outside the circle.
Given a reprieve, Clifton fought back impressively. The smooth progress that College had made through the midfield was disrupted, with the home side taking greater control of possession and setting the visitors on the back foot. College stood firm, however, and they went into halftime leading 1-0.
The third chukka belonged to Clifton. A fine counterattack took Ryde Brisset and company the length of the field, with Dan Rea attacking down the baseline. When he centred, Nabil Bejia was taken down from behind, and a penalty stroke was awarded. Tye Milne beat the ‘keeper from the spot, and the scores were level five minutes into the second stanza.
College came firing back, narrowly missing the mark on either side of the Clifton goalbox in quick succession, but the Durban boys then caught their Inland visitors with a sucker punch right before the last whistle of the chukka. Once again, they did it with a counterattack after turning over possession deep in College territory. Dan Holiday was then on hand to latch onto a loose ball in the circle to make it 2-1 with a chukka to go.
Far from beaten, College demonstrated their never-say-die spirit in the last quarter, playing most of the hockey deep inside Clifton’s half. Clifton, for their part, were, perhaps, guilty of trying to play from too deep when the situation called for them to find a way to play the ball into College territory and force coach Mark Sanders‘ boys to score from long range.
In the first chukka, College had felt hard done by when they had a goal disallowed. In the fourth chukka, Clifton felt hard done by when College was awarded a penalty corner in the last minute. Rory Schirge made it count, deflecting a shot from the right post into the backboard to make it 2-2 with only 20 seconds to play.
A draw felt like a fair result between two sides who look primed to enjoy strong seasons. Clifton, the busier of the teams, thus far in 2026, failed to win for the first time after three successive wins. But the way they responded to College’s early dominance showed that coach Calvin Price‘s boys have backbone.
“I think we have learnt more in this game than in any other,” he said. “It was not easy playing Kearsney last night. The turnaround time was short. You could see it in the legs during the first 15 minutes. We were tired. But we gradually got into the game. I think we ground out a nice result there.
“That’s a quality College side. They’re well drilled. Mark Sanders has a phenomenal squad.
“We’ll take that 2-2 draw. You always want the W, but I think that was a true reflection of the game. It was end-to-end, good hockey.”
Considering the character his team needed to show to overcome a dominant start by Maritzburg College, Price said: “For me, today was more of a mental test than anything else, and I think we passed it.”
The rest of the way, it was College’s day, with the visitors racking up some convincing wins.
Results
1st: Clifton 2-2 Maritzburg College
2nd: Clifton 0-3 Maritzburg College
3rd: Clifton 0-3 Maritzburg College
4th: Clifton 0-4 Maritzburg College
5th: Maritzburg College 0-3 Howick 2nd/3rd
16A: Clifton 1-3 Maritzburg College
16B: Clifton 0-3 Maritzburg College
16C: Clifton 0-2 Maritzburg College
16D: Clifton 0-4 Maritzburg College
16E: Maritzburg College 0-2 Howick u16A
16F: Maritzburg College 7-1 St Charles
16G: Maritzburg College 10-0 St Charles
14A: Clifton 0-3 Maritzburg College
14B: Clifton 0-8 Maritzburg College
14C: Clifton 0-5 Maritzburg College
RUGBY
The Clifton 1st XV took on Amazimtoti High, also at the Riverside Sports Club, and, after a somewhat disjointed first half, during which Toti gave a good account of themselves, they cut back on the errors which had undermined them in the first half to run out comfortable winners.
Clifton led 14-7 at the break, but added 31 unanswered points in the second half to score a comfortable 45-7 victory.
“It was stop-start from us in the first half. Then, after halftime, we managed to get a bit more flow to our game,” Clifton 1st XV coach and Director of Rugby, Jose Dos Santos, said.
“We lost a couple of guys after halftime to injuries, but we played with more cohesion and stuck to our structure.
Dos Santos said the game also served its purpose well, with Amanzimtoti providing a solid challenge and forcing Clifton to take another step up ahead of the bigger challenge that lies ahead next weekend, when they take on St Charles College, also in Durban. “Next week is going to be massive,” he reckoned.
Dos Santos said he is happy that Clifton’s first two games – the other was a 45-0 win over Howick High – have provided the players with the platform he was hoping they would. “It was a bit of a confidence-builder, and it also provided us with contact fitness. Without having had everyone for pre-season, it worked,” he explained.
H identified inside centre Tor McLean and 8th-man Liam Stocks as standout performers and lauded fullback, Mduduzi Thusi, who is in grade 11. “He had a really good game. He’s got speed and a nice step. I was really happy with him,” Dos Santos commented.
McLean opened the scoring in the 13th minute (see feature photo), twisting through a tackle and powering over from close range.
Toti responded superbly, making good use of a penalty to set up a lineout close to the Clifton try line before taking the ball through multiple phases with good patience and control before going over for a five-pointer. A successful conversion made the score 7-7.
Liam Stocks, in a similar manner to McLean’s opening try, forced his way over in the 25th minute, and Troy Young‘s conversion gave Clifton a 14-7 halftime lead.
Early in the second half, Amanzimtoti put Clifton under pressure, but the boys in the red jerseys defended stubbornly to keep the visitors at bay. Slowly, they turned the momentum and found the cohesion they were seeking.
James Joughin was then set free on the left flank, and he went over in the corner to get the scoreboard ticking in the 11th minute of the half. Ten minutes later, Clifton was over for another try, this time from Thomas de Charmoy.
McLean sliced through the Toti defence with a smart dummy, and quick ball from a ruck opened up space for a five-pointer to be scored in the right-hand corner, which made it 24-7.
McLean ripped through the visitors’ defence from the kick off to get Clifton into Toti territory again. Then, he was on hand to take the final pass in the 58th minute as Clifton extended their lead by another seven points, with McLean also adding the extras.
Cole Nienhuser scored Clifton’s sixth try, converted by Jake Snaith, and Liam Stocks went over for his second and Clifton’s seventh, converted by Snaith, to complete the scoring in the 67th minute.
Amazimtoti didn’t go away empty-handed. Their 2nd XV won against a Clifton side which was, admittedly, hamstrung by four injuries and three players in water polo action.
Clifton won low-scoring u16A and u14A games, but cruised to victory in the u15A clash.
Results
1st: Clifton 45-7 Amanzimtoti
2nd: Clifton 7-10 Amanzimtoti
16A: Clifton 15-12 Amanzimtoti
15A: Clifton 50-0 Amazimtoti
14A: Clifton 17-12 Amanzimtoti
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