Classic Clashes: Old rivalry rekindled in Kimberley
AFTER missing out on the 2020 edition due to the coronavirus lockdown, this year’s Classic Clashes took place on Saturday at Pirates, home ground to Northern Cape High where they hosted long time rivals and opponents Diamantveld high.
Hockey matches were played at the Astro in Cassandra on Friday with the Girls Under-16 playing to a goalless draw nil-nil. The two first teams then faced each other, with Diamonds getting the better of their opposition, taking the spoils 3-nil.
Meanwhile, in the boys matches, the Under-16 boys followed the girls game, playing to a goalless draw, while in this case it was Northern Cape High who came out victorious 3-nil.
In the netball competition, Diamantveld showed their strength winning in all the age groups. Under-14A 28-7, Under-15A 33-7, Under-16A 11-5 and the first team 39-9.
In rugby matches, the results were:
Under-14A DHS 26-14 NCH
Under-15A DHS 25-12 NCH
Under-16A NCH 13-5 DHS
Under-19B DHS 35-5 NCH
In the first team fixture, it was the hosts who ran out victors, beating DHS 29-17.
Although the visitors were tipped to beat the hosts with their much stronger forwards pack, they came short as Northerns team held them with their backline making up for the smaller pack of forwards.
Signs of rust was evident with both teams making a lot of basic errors during the game, given that neither team had played any matches, due to the extended covid lockdown.
But the hosts wanted the win, more even with their lighter pack of forwards, as their coach, Deon Carney said after the match. “We are happy with the result, but the main thing is that we set out to do what we wanted to do by matching them up front.
“We also started the game with a lot of aggression and intensity. We opened up the space for our backs and as I mentioned before the game we have a number of players who can produce something special, which they did. The boys stepped up and had a very good game, which we started very well, but finished it even better.
“There were one or two opportunities we missed but all in all we are very happy and we can send the matric boys off on a positive note for their last year of school”.
On the other hand, a rather disappointed Diamantveld coach, Leon Karremaker was unhappy with his team’s inability to get one over their opponents.
“We didn’t keep the ball and we didn't respect the possession we had. I think if we hadn’t made silly knocks and silly kicks then it would have been a different game.” he told the DFA.
“Our centres’ defence was shocked at Northern Cape’s inside centre, who was very good and is a big boy and very quick. We didn’t put pressure on him as we wanted to, so he had a lot of freedom to do as he wanted.
However, I think our scrums and our line-outs were pretty good, but our mauling was not really OK, as we were sucked in too easily, but I was happy that we won the ball now and again.
“But the main thing is if you don’t have the ball possession you are not going to win. That is what we worked on during the week that we can’t lose the ball, that we have to keep possession. We didn’t capitalise in our 22, we made silly knocks and silly errors that cost us.”