Woodridge fight back to defeat Muir

WOODRIDGE College fought back hard to beat Muir 17-10 in a schools rugby encounter in Uitenhage at the weekend.

Earlier, Muir had dominated the opening stages.

Woodridge first showed their class early, when No 8 Ethan de Nysschen scored the first try after a Woodridge scrum 5m from the Muir line.

Scrumhalf Mark van Rensburg converted.

Muir piled on the pressure for the rest of the half, but the Woodridge defence was solid.

The home team did eventually cross for an unconverted try by Delano Terblanche to make it 7-5 at the break.

While Muir had territorial advantage in the second half, Woodridge defended well.

A well-worked maul from the dominant Woodridge lineout led to De Nysschen scoring his second converted try.

Muir hit back with another unconverted try, this time by Duncan McFarlane, to close the gap to 12-10.

Dominating at scrum time, Woodridge created an excellent move from the halfway line, which enabled De Nysschen to put away Van Rensburg for a try in the corner.

Woodridge held on to secure their second win over Muir in the past two years.

St Andrew’s v Marlow

IN a tightly contested match against Marlow, St Andrew’s continued their fine season with a nail-biting 37-29 win over their Country Districts counterparts at the Marlow school’s grounds in Cradock.

St Andrew’s College missed a few opportunities before Graham de Vos crashed over, after good work by Matt More and Jack Allanson.

Marlow responded with a penalty, but St Andrew’s leapt to a 22-3 lead with cool tries by Sean Varty and Matt More, who ran 90m to score after an interception.

But soon after half time, Marlow fought back in scoring two tries, to make it 22-15.

David Rushmere settled the St Andrew’s nerves with a penalty, before Marlow again hit back with a try – to make it 25-22 – with 10 minutes left.

After a solid period of patience and control, Matt More crashed over to extend the lead for St Andrew’s College.

However, Marlow were not done yet – and hit back from the kick-off of the second half, to make it a one-point game.

But then a fiery Jack Allanson sealed the victory with a try out wide, which was well converted by Rushmere.