Woodridge, Union High renew rivalry with keen contests
Woodridge continued to show their capabilities when they took on Union High from Graaff-Reinet on the rugby and girls’ hockey fields at the Woodridge campus on Saturday.
This is a fixture that has been revived and proved to be a good one for both schools.
In a tough girls’ first team hockey match, in which the final score belied the difference between the two sides, Woodridge were 2-0 up after the first half.
Working hard to apply pressure in the second half, the home team started penetrating the Union defence, with Jessica Brown controlling the midfield and Iman Bonnasse showing skill and poise to score two excellent field goals as Woodridge ran out convincing 6-0 winners.
The rest of the Woodridge girls’ hockey teams earlier showed similar dominance, winning the U14A (3-0), U16A (1-0), U16B (1-0) and U14B (1-0) matches.
The Union High second team won 2-1 to conclude an excellent contest of hockey.
As expected, the rugby matches against Union were tightly contested.
The Woodridge first team came up against a well-drilled Union outfit and made too many errors, struggling to adjust defensively to their opponents’ style of play.
Still, the match seemed in the balance as the sides turned at 5-5.
However, Union upped their game in the second half and scored some well-executed tries to run out deserved 29-10 winners.
The Woodridge second team held on in a closely fought match which could have gone either way, but they were resolute in defence until the last minute.
The U16 game was definitely the match of the day with a well-organised Woodridge team taking their opportunities for a thrilling 19-14 win.
The U14s fought hard but went down to Union 24-19.
On the equestrian front, Woodridge hosted the Western Mounted Games on the two terraced arenas at the campus.
Woodridge also competed in the SANESA Q4 combined SAWMGA open competition with 13 riders from grade 00 to grade 11 out in full force achieving several podium winners against a strong field.
Matric pupil Josie Klein competed in the PE Riding Club show jumping competition this weekend, jumping an excellent double clear round on Sunday
Additionally, College rider Caelan Birch travelled to George to compete in the WC Sanesa Eventing Qualifier 5 competition, winning the 85cm junior title.