Graeme have edge in thriller
● Kingswood miss last-minute opportunity
In a match which lived up to its mouthwatering expectations, Graeme College defeated Kingswood 24-22 in a well-contested schools rugby encounter in Grahamstown on Saturday.
Kingswood College had the upper hand in the opening stages as they dominated possession, which led to the opening try by Abo Klaas – the first of a hat-trick of tries from him.
Graeme struck back immediately through a try by Mark Amm before a Kingswood penalty made it 8-5.
The home team eventually began to gain some ascendency, which led to a converted try by David McCallum to put them 12-8 ahead.
However, Kingswood struck back with a converted try in the last play of the first half to make it 15-12 at the break.
The visitors added another try early in the second half to extend their lead to 22-13.
Graeme mounted an attack through a clever chip kick and after regaining the ball, they scored through Arnouw Nel.
The kick was missed and Kingswood maintained their lead at 22-17.
Graeme crucially scored again through playmaker Nel, who was unstoppable close to the line. This time they converted it to lead 24-22.
Kingswood had a tough penalty to try to win the game in the last minute, but the kick was off target, giving Graeme a memorable 24-22 win.
Besides Klaas’s three tries, Jared Manus kicked two conversions and a penalty.
Far more important than any of the results, though, was the end of the coaching career of one of Grahamstown’s schools legends.
Graeme teacher Ian Suttie retires in March 2019 and that meant that his U9A match was the last time he walked off the rugby field as a coach.
Suttie had coached the U13A side for 25 years and then followed that with the U9A side for a further 10 years.
It was a fitting farewell to see a number of junior and senior schoolboys line up and form a tunnel as he left the field.
DALE v ST ANDREW’S
Dale delivered a strong performance to defeat St Andrew’s 43-26 in King William’s Town on Saturday.
St Andrew’s drew first blood with a try by Matt Royle, but Dale replied with a try by Sibusiso Zena.
The first half remained a close contest with each side adding another try, levelling matters at 14-14.
Ikho Putini scored for Dale and the St Andrew’s second try was scored by Ant More.
Minutes before the end of the first half, Dale’s Indiphile Tyeda slotted a penalty for his team to edge ahead 17-14.
In the second half, matters started off badly for the visitors with a poor kickoff and Dale scored via Luphumlo Thseko.
It was the first of four second-half tries which secured the victory for Dale. The home team showed pace on attack and added tries by Thseko and Zena to stretch the lead to 38-14.
St Andrew’s fought back strongly with tries by Chris Poole and Guy Rushmere and narrowed the gap to 38-26 but could not catch up. The final say belonged to Dale with a try by Thando Zoki.
Tyeda converted five of Dale’s tries. For St Andrew’s, Murray Wilson added three conversions.