Affies claimed their fifth-consecutive win over Maritzburg College with a 78-16 victory in their annual derby in Pretoria on Saturday. DYLAN JACK reports.

It was a rather one-sided game as Affies scored four first-half tries to College’s one to continue their dominance over the KwaZulu-Natal school, having last lost in 2014.

Affies’ young pack of forwards, many of them in Grade 11, were particularly impressive as they forced Maritzburg to make plenty of tackles and wore their well-organised defence down.

It did not take long for Affies to open the scoring through lock Reinhardt Ludwig, who got a second in the second half, and from there it was largely one-way traffic.

Maritzburg did respond through a try from replacement centre Marcelle Masvikeni, who came on for the experienced Phililani Simamane, but that was just about as good as it got for the visitors.

Affies centre Gerhard Botha also put in a clinical performance, scoring a 38th-minute hat-trick to take the game away from College.

The home side also benefited from a number of strong driving mauls as they were awarded a penalty try in the first half while flank MJ Janse van Rensburg went over from a maul in the second half.

Ludwig and Janse van Rensburg both then grabbed their braces to bring up the half-century and all but end the match as a contest.

Wings Kyle Liebenberg and Bjorn van Wyk, tighthead prop Werner Kruger and flank Brendhan Kelbrick added tries in the final 10 minutes of the match.

Affies – Tries: Reinhardt Ludwig (2), Gerhard Botha (3), penalty try, MJ Janse van Rensburg (2), Kyle Liebenberg, Werner Kruger, Bjorn van Wyk, Brendhan Kelbrick. Conversions: JP Wentzel (4), Michael van Aswegen (4).
Maritzburg – Tries: Marcelle Masvikeni, Brannen Webster. Penalties: Sven Zunckel (2).

Photo: Lee Warren/Gallo Images