When you think you know what to expect, a rugby match might deliver the opposite of that expectation. At Gilfillan Field on Saturday, Hilton College hosted Northwood in a meeting of teams that boast physical, usually miserly, defences. Instead, the game produced 75 points.
Hilton scored 43 of them, which was by eight the most points the Knights had conceded in 2026, while Northwood tallied 32 points, which was just three less than the 35 Hilton conceded against Westville Boys’ High, the most by the home side this season.
Besides that, they had surrendered only 21 to Michaelhouse, which was the only other occasion that a team had topped 20 against Andrew Schnell and company.
To some, who regard Hilton College as a team that plays a 10-man game, they showed they have dangerous, creative backs.
If the opposition can’t stop Hilton’s relentless pick-and-goes, they’ll stick to that winning formula. On Saturday, though, there was a clear objective to stretch Northwood on both flanks, and the home side executed that plan superbly.
Their speed in releasing the ball from the breakdowns was outstanding, thanks in no small part to the tidy service of scrumhalf Benoit Rey and the clean ball presented to him by the industrious pack. Much of Hilton’s success in 2026 has been derived from the smooth cohesion of the men up front, and they again produced the goods against a tough Northwood pack.
The Knights appeared somewhat subdued in the first half, but that also had something to do with Hilton’s stern resistance.
Coach Brad Macleod-Henderson‘s men usually do an outstanding job of dictating where the game will be played, but Northwood made a better start and pinned Hilton in their half. The home side sucked up the pressure, however, and when they finally reached the visitors’ half after six minutes, they quickly took to giving the ball air and getting it wide quickly.
Yet, when they neared the try line, they turned to the tried and tested slow poison of their forwards to get the job done. After their powerful no. 8, Zander Muller, was brought down just shy of the whitewash, scrumhalf Benoit Rey fed flyhalf John Grubb, and he was over after a neat step, opening the scoring in the ninth minute.
Good interplay between the backs and forwards took Hilton up to Northwood’s try line again, and a clever line from lock Hartman Fourie took him over for the game’s second try in the 20th minute.
After a strong run from Northwood captain Jamie Wimble, the Knights were awarded a penalty, and Sondelani Sheleni opened the visitors’ scoring with a penalty five minutes later. He had a chance to reduce the gap with another penalty kick, but his kick was wide of the mark.
Just a minute before the break, a Northwood knock-on inside the Hilton 22 almost ended in a spectacular score at the other end of the field. Tom Gurupira spotted space behind the Knights’ backs and kicked deep down the field. He won the race to the ball and kicked it ahead on the visitors’ 22. The speedy Hilton wing was again first to the ball, but the bounce was unkind, and he was ruled to have knocked on when he tried to force it down. It was a close escape for the Durban side.
Gurupira’s counterattack, however, laid the platform for a try before halftime, with Hilton grabbing a third try from the 22 drop-out when Ruan Mulder took an outside gap, then chipped over the top, regathered, and dived over in the left-hand corner for a spectacular solo five-pointer. John Grubb nailed the touchline conversion and, at 19-3 at the interval, it looked like plain sailing for Hilton, and another low-scoring contest.
It was anything but that, with the second half producing 53 points as Northwood, who had come back from an 11-point halftime deficit against Kearsney a week earlier, engineering another second-half fightback. They generated 29 points, but Hilton added 24 to their tally to take the win.
Northwood scored first. A searing counterattack was finished by left wing Jadon Smith, who used his pace and a well-timed swerve to evade the Hilton defence and put the finishing touch to a move that had begun inside the Northwood 22. An easy conversion kick for Sheleni made it a seven-point play.
Sheleni then added a penalty to reduce the deficit t0 19-13 only seven minutes into the second stanza. Hilton struck back quickly, though, with Hartman Fourie crashing over for his second, under the posts, after Aidan du Plooy had punched a hole in the visitors’ defensive line.
Suddenly, Hilton had doubled up Northwood at 26-13.
Northwood replied with a try from Ludi van der Walt, who went over from close range, and Sheleni converted.
In an interesting move, Hilton put Ruan Mulder into the pack for a five-metre scrum, and he was almost over after a strong burst off the back of the pack, but 8th-man, Zander Muller, was there to provide the finish. It was beneath the uprights, which gave Grubb an easy conversion kick to make it 33-20.
Following each kickoff, the territorial battle favoured the kicking team, and so Northwood went onto the attack. With 20 minutes remaining, they made that count, with Jamie Wimble cutting back against the grain, shrugging off a tackle and riding a second one over the try line for his side’s third try.
It didn’t take long for Hilton to reply. They counterattacked off a clearing kick and eventually fullback James Peattie dragged a defender over in the left corner to make it 38-25 with 12 minutes left.
Crucially, Brad Macleod-Henderson’s charges then broke the tit-for-tat scoring of the second half, with a sharp pass from outside centre Guy Fender putting Liyema Gazi over in the same left corner. Again, the conversion was wide, but Hilton’s lead had been extended to 18 points.
It took Northwood only two minutes to respond, however, with Nala Shabangu making a sharp break after selling a dummy before putting the fleet-footed Anesu Kuzonyei clear. Josh Mills converted, and it was 43-32.
Three minutes later, the final whistle brought the curtain down on an entertaining contest, which produced 11 tries, seven of them by the home team.
Scorers:
Hilton College 43 (19) – Tries: Hartman Fourie (2), John Grubb, Ruan Mulder, Zander Muller, James Peattie, Liyema Gazi. Conversion: John Grubb (4). Northwood 32 (3) – Tries: Jadon Smith, Ludi van der Walt, Jamie Wimble, Anesu Kuzonyei. Conversion: Sondelani Sheleni (2), Josh Mills. Penalty: Sondelani Sheleni (2).
Other results:
u19
II: Hilton 43 Northwood 7
III: Northwood 12 Hilton 10
IV: Hilton 12 Northwood 10
V: Hilton 26 Northwood 13
VI: Hilton 50 Northwood 31
u16
A: Hilton 33 Northwood 19
B: Northwood 17 Hilton 12
C: Northwood 34 Hilton 10
u15
A: Hilton 12 Northwood 5
B: Hilton 41 Northwood 21
C: Hilton 17 Northwood 14
u14
A: Hilton 37 Northwood 17
B: Hilton 40 Northwood 14
C: Hilton 31 Northwood 29
