St Andrew’s continue their winning ways
Pearson go down 37-11 in Grahamstown clash
ST ANDREW’S maintained their unbeaten streak against Eastern Cape opposition when they defeated Pearson 37-11 in a schools rugby clash in Grahamstown. After some memorable performances recently, this match was unfortunately marked by some scrappy play and basic mistakes from both sides, but St Andrew’s still had enough for a solid win.
The home side were first to score after a super tackle in midfield by Oscar Evans forced a turnover, with the ball being quickly distributed for fullback Sean Varty to scored out wide. Murray Koster added the conversion.
Pearson responded immediately with a penalty, before a drop goal from Koster increased the St Andrew’s lead to 10-3.
St Andrew’s then took control to virtually settle the match with three quick tries by Christian Roebert, Chulumanco Mngxaso and Evans, giving them a telling 30-6 lead at the break.
The second half was a stop-start affair and neither side were able to exert any real dominance.
Graham de Vos scored the last of the St Andrew’s tries.
St Andrew’s, who have lost only to Bishops this year, now prepare for arguably their biggest match of the season, when they host Kingswood in the annual K-Day sporting festival on Saturday.
GREY HIGH V DALE
GREY High suffered their second defeat in a row when a penalty in front of the poles in the last minute gave Dale a narrow 28-27 win.
It was an agonising finish for the Port Elizabeth side, after they had fought their way back from a 25-10 deficit to lead 27-25 with just a few minutes remaining.
Using their powerful lineout maul to good effect, Grey crossed for tries by Philip Weyer-Henderson and Ruan Jonker – his second of the match – to close the gap to 25-22.
The visitors continued to press and eventually fullback Sihle Njezula broke through to score in the righthand corner, giving them the lead for the first time.
However, for the second week in a row, they failed to close out their opponents and Dale surged back into the Grey 22m area to be awarded the match-winning penalty.
Dale started well and led 18-5 in the first half, before Grey fought back through strong mauling to cross twice for tries, making it 18-10 at the break.
The PE side showed their resilience in the second half, but Dale never gave up the fight and were rewarded with their second win in a row over the Grey outfit.
BRANDWAG V OTTO
BRANDWAG scored 17 tries for a 105-8 victory over visitors Otto du Plessis in their schools rugby game in Uitenhage, writes Karen Pienaar.
For Brandwag, scrumhalf Chadd Adams and the vice-captain, eighth man Elandre Smit, both scored a hat-trick of tries.
Captain Chadwyn November at flyhalf and Dean Jordan, who played fullback on the day, scored two tries each. November also score with a drop kick in the second half.
For Otto du Plessis flyhalf Jusian Louwrens kicked a penalty in the first half, which made the score a respectable 5-3, but only for a few minutes.
After Brandwag had scored eight tries in the first half, Otto du Plessis inside centre Justin Eckert managed to score the visitors’ only try. The half-time score was 48-8. During the second half, Brandwag overran Otto with a further nine tries.
Left wing Gavin Kriel converted nine tries including his own for a personal tally of 23 points.