Kearsney College Easter Rugby Festival 2015 Reports – Day 2

From Kearsney College – Working Works (writer : Mike Hill)

MATCH 6
FRAMESBY 6 – 31 EG JANSEN

With the Sharks match and conditions becoming quite dark, the crowd had thinned for the final match of the second day between Dr EG Jansen and Framesby.

Within the first five minutes EG Jansen had scored a brace of tries, both by wing Franklin Wagner, but neither were converted. Expectations of the 10-0 early lead were that this was to be a big scoring game. Framesby however beefed up their defence and EG Jansen did not get over the line again. Scrumhalf Wayne Moss succeeded with two penalties for Framesby to trail 6-10 at the break.

Conditions were darkening, thunder peeling in the background and rain threatening but still Framesby held on despite Jansen’s numerous assaults into the 22m area. For five minutes they were reduced to 14 men after a yellow card.

Hendre Stassen, playing on the flank instead of his normal position at lock, drove over following a line-out with 14 minutes remaining. Henry Pike added the two points to stretch the lead to 17-6.

It looked as though the flood gates would open when flank Dylan van der Walt peeled off from a line-out to score under the uprights. Pike increased the tally to 24-6 following the conversion. Despite some rain falling it took another 10 minutes before full-back David Mostert scored in the corner. It was converted by Pike for a 31-6 win, with Framesby’s never-say-die attitude prevailing until the very end.

Point scorers:
Framesby: W Moss 6 (2 penalties)
EG Jansen: F Wagner 10 (2 tries); H Stassen 5 (1 try); D vd Walt 5 (1 try); H Pike 6 (3 conversions); D Mostert 5 (1 try)

MATCH 5
GLENWOOD 11 – 22 HTS MIDDELBURG

The penultimate match on the second day at Kearsney saw local side Glenwood taking on HTS Middelburg. It was a tough, closely fought encounter, resulting in a 22-11 win for Middelburg; which meant all three Kwa-Zulu-Natal teams lost their second day fixtures.

Glenwood was first on the scoreboard as eighth man Marco Palvie forced his way over following a scrum. This was his fourth try in the two matches played at the festival. HTS Middelburg replied shortly after with a penalty by Ryan Cloete. The Glenwood side increased their lead 8-3 when Jerome Bossr added three points from a penalty.

Middelburg camped in the Glenwood 22m area and made numerous attempts to score. Two successive yellow cards against Glenwood left them trying to defend with 13 players, which they failed to do, as Middelburg wing Lewin Bronkhorst went over in the corner. It was well converted by Cloete to lead 10-8 at the break.

In the second period it was Middelburg that scored just three minutes after kick-off, when eighth man Erik Basson scored after some loose play. Cloete was again successful adding the extra points for a 15-8 lead.

A Bossr penalty narrowed the gap to 15-11, but HTS Middelburg moved the ball quickly through the hands to centre Brandon Par-Bailey who went over under the crossbow to dot down. He converted his own try for the lead to extend to 22-11.

Despite Glenwood making a final concerted effort, the boys from Middelburg held firm for their eventual victory.

Point scorers:
Glenwood: M Palvie 5 (1 try); J Bossr 6 (2 penalties)
HTS Middelburg: E Basson 5 (1 try); L Bronkhorst 5 (1 try); B Par-Bailey 7 (1 converted try); R Cloete 5 (1 penalty, 1 conversion)

MATCH 4
AFFIES 10 – 13 SACS

In the fourth match of the second day, Affies took on SACS and it looked like men against boys, as Affies out-sized and out-weighed the smaller Cape Town team. But in what developed into a fantastic game for the large crowd, one of the festival’s most fancied sides upset the Western Cape newcomers.

Despite Affies having both territorial and possession advantage, the SACS boys tackled and tackled. They held Affies to 7-3 at half-time and eventually took the game 13-10 in a mammoth defensive match.

Affies opened the scoring with a try by left wing Christian Strydom, converted by fly-half Ruan de Swardt for a 7-0 lead. SACS closed the gap with a penalty by captain Jordan Chait for a 7-3 halftime score.

In the second half it was Chait who again converted a penalty to close the gap to just one point. Affies came agonisingly close again to crossing the whitewash but brave defence and putting their bodies on the line prevented any further tries. Affies did increase their lead to 10-6 with a penalty in the last quarter by De Swardt, but nobody could have guessed the final outcome.

The bounce of the ball favoured SACS as they put in one last effort. Centre Ciaran Dayaram couldn’t believe it when the ball bounced into his hands and he saw space in front of him and had the pace to score under the poles, giving an easy conversion attempt for Chait.

The unexpected happened and SACS beat one of the top school sides in the country 13-10; to go unbeaten into the final day of the festival.

Point scorers:
Affies: C Strydom 5 (1 try); R de Swardt 5 (1 conversion, 1 penalty)
SACS: C Dayaram 5 (1 try); J Chait 8 (1 conversion, 2 penalties)

MATCH 3
KEARSNEY COLLEGE 10 – 28 GREY COLLEGE

Kearsney must have been apprehensive ahead of this match against Grey College – the third match of the morning of the second day at the festival – after their drubbing by Selborne on Thursday. However, in an entertaining contest they held them until the last quarter when Grey scored two good tries to win 28-10.

The home side raised their game and put early pressure camping on the Grey try-line but they couldn’t get through. Characteristically, Grey will make opposition pay for mistakes made and so they did when Kearsney dropped the ball on attack and then had to defend as Grey attacked their line. Their defence held, stopping numerous attempts by Grey to score.

After 16 minutes centre PR Serfontein sniped through for the first points of the match. Mario Vieira converted for Grey to lead 7-0. Kearsney tackled out of their skins to prevent any further points by Grey. On the stroke of half-time it was a little chip through by full-back Cullen Waberski that led to wing Sebastian Pau scoring and Waberski levelled the score with his conversion.

It took Grey another 30 minutes before they scored again as Serfontein made the break and off-loaded to Gerrie Koegelenberg who rounded the defence to dot down. Vieira was successful with the conversion for the Bloemfontein side to lead 14-7. Waberski then added a penalty for Kearsney to narrow the gap to 10-14.

The tackle toll started affecting the Kearsney lads and Grey capitalised with first lock Marius Kruger scoring from a maul and then Koegelenberg going over for his second try when Grey stretched the defence across the field. Vieira converted both for a 28-10 win.

It was an exciting, fast-moving game that was played in front of capacity crowds.

Points scorers:
Kearsney: S Pau 5 (1 try); C Waberski 5 (1 conversion, 1 penalty)
Grey: PR Serfontein 5 (1 try); M Kruger 5 (1 try); G Koegelenberg 10 (2 tries); M Vieira 8 (4 conversions)

MATCH 2
WESTVILLE 10 – DALE COLLEGE 22

By the time the second match between local team Westville and Dale College had begun, the sun was shining and the crowd had swelled. It was a much tighter affair than the earlier game, with Dale eventually running out 22-10 winners, after losing their first game against SACS on Thursday.

Much of the first half was played between the two 22m lines but it was Westville that opened the scoring, going into the second quarter when hooker Hendrik Prinsloo saw the defence open in front of him for a clear run to the line. Niel van Rooyen converted for a 7-0 lead.

After a yellow card issued against a Dale player, Westville had a period of dominance, but it was Dale that opened their score with a penalty by fly-half Courtney Winnaar with two minutes remaining in the half, to leave Westville 7-3 in front.

Opposing hooker Bubele Gongqa scored the opening try of the second half when he finished off a good Dale move. The conversion by Winnaar was successful, leaving Dale 10-7 in front. Dale received a second yellow card and this time it was Westville’s Van Rooyen who added a three-pointer, to level the scores at 10-all.

As the game progressed the Dalians became more confident, running the ball in exciting moves. Two further tries were scored when flank Siyanda Am had a good run to the try-line, converted by Winnaar, to lead 17-10.

Finally it was fullback Godknows Mavara who scored, after fly-half Winnaar had kicked through the Westville defensive line for the fullback to power through and dot down, leaving the Border side 22-10 in front with four minutes remaining.

After their exciting and close win on Thursday against Menlo Park, the local team’s many supporters were disappointed by the second-day loss.

Point scorers:
Westville: H Prinsloo 5 (1 try); N van Rooyen 5 (1 penalty, 1 conversion)
Dale: C Winnaar 7 (1 penalty, 2 conversions); B Gongqa 5 (1 try); S Am 5 (1 try); G Mavara 5 (1 try)

MATCH 1
SELBORNE COLLEGE 28 – 20 HOERSKOOL MENLOPARK

In contrast to the ideal conditions on the first day of the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival, the first match of day two, between Selborne College and Menlo Park, started with a slight mist over the ground. This soon cleared, but the ball remained slightly slippery. This did not prevent some good rugby and a second win for Selborne.

The first half belonged to Menlo Park from Pretoria who dominated territory and Selborne did most of the tackling. An early penalty by Craven Week player Andell Loubser put Menlo ahead. With continued pressure on the Selborne line, their defensive wall eventually broke as centre and captain Wayne van der Bank burst through for a five-pointer which Loubser converted.

Selborne got on to the scoreboard with a long-range penalty by scrum-half Joshua Allderman from just inside the Menlo half. Loubser replied soon after with a 50m penalty to keep Menlo 10 points ahead at 13-3. Twice only did Selborne get into the red zone on attack, but the Menlo defence held firm. Allderman converted his second penalty to leave Selborne 6-13 at the half-time break.

In a game of two halves, Selborne dominated the second period and it was a mistake by Menlo in their 22m area which led to centre Andile Koyana going through to bring Selborne two points behind. A further penalty by Allderman, and a try two minutes later by wing Tristian Coetzer who darted over, together with Alderman’s conversion, left Selborne 21-13 ahead.

Continued pressure by Selborne saw flank Darren Lemmer dive over and again Allderman was successful adding the two points, to leave Selborne 28-13 in front.

On the final whistle, Menlo flank Gerald Lowe got over from a penalty close to the line. This was the first time in the half that Menlo had reached the Selborne 22m area. It was converted by Loubser for a 28-20 win by Selborne, who now remain undefeated going into Monday’s last day of the festival.

Points scorers:
Selborne College: T Coetzer 5 (1 try); A Koyana 5 (1 try); D Lemmer 5 (1 try); J Allderman 13 (3 penalties, 2 conversions)
Menlo Park: W vd Bank 5 (1 try); G Lowe 5 (1 try); A Loubser 10 (2 penalties, 2 tries)

RESULTS FROM DAY 1:

Selborne 48 Kearsney 7; SACS 22 Dale 12; Westville 27 Menlo Park 25; Affies 41 EG Jansen 5; Glenwood 36 Framesby 0; Grey College 22 HTS Middelburg 19
FIXTURES:

Monday 6th:
09h30 Westville v SACS
10h45 Framesby v Affies
12h00 HTS Middelburg v Selborne College
13h15 Glenwood v Menlo Park
14h30 Grey College v Dr EG Jansen
15h45 Kearsney College v Dale College