Brackenfell Sports Festival 2018 – report & results

Media Release:

                     Brackenfell Sports Festival – Saturday 24 March 2018

The annual Brackenfell Sports Festival once again proved to be a huge success, with a huge number of schools participating in rugby, netball and hockey. Twenty under 19 rugby matches was played on the Saturday.

Herewith a summery of the main matches:

Oakdale 46 (15) Mendoza 12 (12)

The visitors from Argentina proved to be a handful in the 1st half, with their forwards managing to fight fire with fire, in a bruising encounter. Oakdale’s hard working and strong no.8 Hendrick Victor proved his class in this battle and big tighthead prop Magnus Muller, who worked tirelessly in the set pieces, also showed some silky skills with ball in hand.

The half time score of 15 – 12 in Oakdale’s favour, was a true reflection of play in this period.

However, after the break, Oakdale went into a higher gear, increasing the tempo of the match. As the match progressed, the visitors seemed to run out of gas. The Riversdale boys found a lot of gaping holes in the Mendoza defence, which they duly exploited.

This led to a number of runaway tries, as Oakdale took complete control of proceedings.

Amongst the Oakdale backs, strong running inside centre , Etienne Steyn and pacey wing Jacquin Taute, were the pick of a slick outfit.

Drosdy 40 (28) Bellville 18 (6)

This is a very good Drostdy side. They have a number of quality players and no apparent weakness. They overpowered Bellville in the 1st half, scoring almost at will. They have a more than useful pack of forwards, with burly, and skill full loose head prop, Tommie Bezuidenhout, leading the way. However, it is the Worcester backline that caused most of the havoc. Pivot Shaun Baxter and fullback Jasper Cohen, proved to be able playmakers, igniting the brilliance of outside centre Christie Grobbelaar, and his willing outside backs.

Bellville to their huge credit never gave up the fight and came back strongly in the 2nd half, sharing the spoils by 12 points each. Yes! It did seem that the Donkeys lifted their foot off the accelerator but this would be an unfair comment to the gutsy performance of the northerns suburbs outfit.

Bellville’s best player was their hard working lock Zander Conradie, who made a huge number of tackles. Flyhalf Deuvajio Solomons gave a polished performance under tremendous pressure.

Make no mistake, Drostdy will pose a threat to any school this season and expect them to be a serious challenger for a finish amongst the national Top 10.

Durbanville 26 (12) Milnerton 13 (8)

Damian De Allende’s Alma Mater, Milnerton, was the surprise package of the day. They played against a Durbanville side who has huge aspirations, and are considered to be a serious threat for the usual Western Cape big guns in the near future. However Milnerton showed scant regard for their more illustrious opponents and at times had the Durbanville defense at sixes and sevens.

There was very little to choose between the two sides at half time.

In the second half Durbanville upped the ante and a number of good tries followed. Their big lock Wian Smit had a storming match and Mondray Titus their flyhalf, displayed some excellent all round skills.

For Milnerton, Donovan Sinclair (flank) caught the eye with his good work in broken play, securing a number of turn-overs. Flyhalf Mikyle Vraaggom, was full of running.

Brackenfell 27 (0) Strand 20 (15) 

In the main match the hosts had to pull out all the stops for a hard fought victory over a gallant Strand.

It was a match of two distinct halves as the score reflects. For the second match in this week, (after their match against Wynberg Boys on Tuesday), Brackenfell waited till the second half, before getting their act together. Strand deservedly led by 15 – 0 at the break. Their lock Joshua Kloosman has a huge engine and covered a lot of ground, making numerous crucial tackles. He was well supported by flank Kallie Freemantle, who secured a number of turnovers. Both the Strand centres, Hacuum Jansen and especially Tumelo Moremi, caused mayhem in the Brakkies defence. The visitors commanding 15 – 0 lead at halftime  was just reward for a clinical performance.

Brakkies coach, Jan Loubser, who is a well respected coach and was the senior coach of the Durbanville/Bellville Rugby Club, which won the national club championship in 2015, must have issued some stern words to his troops at the break, as they came out with a bang at the start of the second half. Within 15 minutes, they scored 3 tries, one which was converted ,to go into a 17 – 15 lead. WP Sevens star, centre Jade-Lee Andreas was a constant threat, and had a huge hand in these tries. However Strand recovered well from this blitzkrieg and scored again from some powerful driving play by their forwards, to regain the lead (20 – 17).

Brakkies came back again and the scores were even (20 -20) after a successful easy penalty by Brakkies flyhalf  Raven Smith. However! The final say in this absorbing encounter came from a brilliant individual try by Brackenfell’s slippery wing , Marcqiewn Titus, which completed the scoring after a successful conversion.

Other players from Brakkies who played well was no.8 Johan Munday, as well as two replacements who made a huge impact after halftime, lock Chean Truter and centre Ruben Brink. 

All the results

Jan van Riebeeck 22 RDP 22
Dirkie Uys 52 Bosmansdam 0
Robertson 29 Mendoza B 12
Oakdale 46 Mendoza A 12
Drosdy 40 Bellville 18
Durbanville 26 Milnerton 13
Brackenfell 27 Strand 20
Melkbostrand 31 Curro Durbanville 20
President 29 Mendoza C 17
Oakdale B 55 RDP B 14
Edgemead 7 Martin Oosthuizen 5
Fairmont 13 Labori 13
HTS Bellville 10 JG Meiring 3
Bellville South 32 Wynberg B 15
Drosdy B 19 Stellenberg B 12
Duineveld B 74 Brackenfell C 0
Hottentots Holland 8 Brackenfell B 5

Under 16

Brackenfell 68 Labori 0

Under 15

Brackenfell 49 Labori 0

Under 14

Brackenfell 38 Strand 5