Bishops win thriller against Saints
IN an entertaining game at the Wynberg Rugby Festival, Bishops had to pull out all the stops before emerging 28-24 victors over St Charles College from Maritzburg.
Although both sides scored four tries apiece, it was the superior goal kicking of Bishops full-back Lucca Mynhardt, who converted all four tries, that proved decisive.
The game started off at a lively pace and Bishops immediately had the Saints’ defence under pressure. In the first minute their livewire scrumhalf Kashief Joseph intercepted a sloppy pass and raced away for a try.
Saints did well to regroup with Bishops doing most of the attacking. However, with their forwards in the ascendancy, it was inevitable that a score was imminent.
From a line-out, their forwards went on the drive and flanker James le Feuvre dotted down. Shortly afterwards scrumhalf Joseph completed a brace with a fine sense of anticipation to notch another intercept try.
After 15 minutes the score was 21-0 and the Bishops faithful could be forgiven for expecting a rout.
Saints, however, launched a counter-attack, which ended with their equally impressive scrum-half Matthew Fick scoring under the sticks.
On the stroke of half-time, their solid pack secured a quick heel from a scrum and prop Chris Allerdyce got the touch down. Flyhalf Ukhanyo Ntsangani was on target with both conversions and at half-time they were back in the game at 21-14.
After the change over, the team from KZN came out smoking. They were able to repel the Bishops attacks with solid first time tackling and were not averse to launch counter-attacks, giving the ball plenty of air.
Bishops were unable to capitalise on their numerical advantage after the visitors conceded a yellow card in the 51st minute. Ironically it was during this period that the Saints scored their third try via Ntsangani, whose conversion attempt failed.
At 21-19 and six minutes to go they were on course for a huge upset.
From a ruck, Bishops played the ball wide and wing Cole Robyntjies scored in the corner. Mynhardt was on target with his fourth conversion to make it 28-19. The visitors had the last laugh with an injury-time try out wide by centre Rashied Isaacs.
In another exciting match Windhoek High ended their tour on a high note with a 7-0 win over HTS Bellville. The Bellville side had a marked territorial advantage for most of the first half but they were up against a team who put their bodies on the line and tackled like Trojans, even when they conceded two yellow cards.
None worked harder than No 8 McHenry Kambatuka, who tackled his socks off and was also busy on attack. Windhoek scored on the stroke of half-time when silky skills by the backs enabled centre Alejandre Morkel to waltz through the defence to score. Full-back William Beukes, who had a good festival, converted to make the half-time score 7-0. The scoreline remained unchanged for the rest of the clash, much to the delight of the visitors.