Brandwag seal rugby victory
Grey High show urgency in quest to defeat go-getters Nico Malan
BRANDWAG produced a clinical display of rugby warfare to beat Marlow 34-20 in their schools rugby match in Cradock at the weekend. The visiting team outscored Marlow by three tries to two. Brandwag’s talented flyhalf Malcolm Jaer scored a try, converted two and kicked five penalties.
Brandwag opened the scoring with a penalty before Marlow scored the first try through tighthead prop Ronnie Beyl.
Brandwag replied with another penalty to make the score 7-6 before Marlow loosehead prop Ian Smith scored their second and last try.
Brandwag outside centre Elroy Adams scored his team’s first try after Marlow’s backline tried to run the ball from behind their own goalline. Jaer converted and added two more penalties to one from Marlow flyhalf Heinie Brum. Brandwag led 19-17 at half-time.
Jaer opened the second half’s scoring with a penalty before crossing the tryline himself for his team’s second try.
Amazingly, Jaer failed to convert his own try, which was not far out from the goalposts, but at 27-17 Marlow suddenly looked in trouble.
The home side added their first and last points of the second half with a penalty from Brum to close the gap to 27-20, but Brandwag sealed their victory when flank Morné Moos scored his team’s third try.
Grey High held on for a hard-fought 29-24 win over Nico Malan in Humansdorp. After conceding an early try, Grey hit back through stand-in captain Martin Groenewald, who capped off a good passage of play with a belligerent run to make it 7-7.
The home side went ahead 12-7 through a fine try by highly rated centre Selvyn Davids, but Grey showed greater urgency after halftime and hit back with a penalty.
However, a lapse in concentration on defence allowed Davids to ghost through for Nico Malan’s third try before Grey’s forwards took control and produced some powerful play for Keanu Vers to score, making it 17-15 to the home side.
Grey capitalised to score two quick tries by Dylan Vermaak, stretching their lead to 29-17 with about 15 minutes remaining.
Nico Malan closed the gap with a longrange try and Grey had some anxious moments in defence before holding off a plucky effort from their opponents.
Nico Malan’s other tries came from Dean van der Westhuizen and Heinrich Ruiters, while Davids kicked two conversions.