Northwood big victory

Northwood School achieved the most talked about win of the KwaZulu Natal rugby season when against all odds they conquered the Green Machine, Glenwood High School, 9-8 at home.
This was the first time in over a decade that Northwood had tasted victory over their south Durban rivals, with the last win being in 1998 to be precise.
It has become customary for Glenwood to play a physical style of rugby from the first whistle and this game was no exception to that rule.
Northwood rose to the occasion and spurred on by a passionate home crowd, stood up to this 70-minute physical onslaught. The Northwood scrum did incredibly well against their bigger counterparts, disrupting the visitors' ability to secure clean first phase ball. At the breakdowns, Northwood loose forwards James Hall and Adrian Verbiest also got through a mountain of work.
The home team were first on the board when scrumhalf Raymond Simon slotted a penalty after five minutes. Simon, usually one of the province's best timers of a kick, was off his best on the day and missed a further three penalties in the first half.
Siyabonga Tom, another kicker with a tendency to be erratic, landed Glenwood's equaliser, which gave rise to the teams swapping ends with the scores at 3-all.
The second half saw Glenwood come out firing again, launching wave after wave of attacks. Superb defending helped Northwood withstand these attacks and then against the run of play, the home team regained the lead compliments of a penalty by stand-in kicker, centre Wade Worthington.
Glenwood kept their foot on the peddle and their constant pressure resulted in a wonderful try in the right hand corner by right wing Craig Geldenhuys, Tom failed with the conversion, leaving Glenwood within a three-point striking distance at 8-6.
Northwood refused to bow down and took the game back into Glenwood's half. It was at this point that were awarded a penalty. Worthington stepped up and slotted the most important three-pointer of his team's rugby season, to put Northwood into an unimaginable 9-8 lead.
The drama was far from over though. Incredibly Northwood managed to win yet another kickable penalty, however this last effort went wide. Glenwood counter-attacked, carrying the ball into their opposition's half and pressurised Northwood to concede a penalty for an infringement. The referee then reversed this penalty because of an incident that occurred after the whistle. All that was left for Northwood to do was kick the ball into touch to record a memorable 9-8 victory over Glenwood.
Northwood's hard-working head of rugby, Simon Vickers had the following to say: "A victory like this means that all the hard work that put in over three years is starting to bare the fruit. Last year we scored our first win over Michaelhouse in the school's history and this year we have beaten DHS at DHS and now Glenwood at home.
"I am so proud of the way our team has developed over the season. Head coach Barry Wilson has worked wonders with the boys and together with myself and our Manager Paul Naidoo and physio Jenna Pomrey-Ward we have developed a team that is capable of playing anyone."
NORTHWOOD ARE BACK! are the words either on the lips or in the minds of many Durbanites right now.