Rondebosch enjoyed a fairytale ending to their season when they battled back from 35-22 down and scored a winning try with time up on the clock to beat Bishops 36-35 at the Piley Rees and in so doing secure a first Southern Suburbs time since 2017.
Rondebosch encompass the phrase “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” No big names, just a group of hard workers that combined so well to produce a victorious team. It’s a great testimony to the spirit and character of their boys and also a tribute of great respect to their coaching staff who got it right.
This last match of the season ended up being a cup final of sorts for the title of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town. Both schools can into the match on four wins apiece. The normal huge crowd was vocal. The match proved to be an epic.
Rondebosch, thanks to their pack dominated the first part of the match. On the balance of play they deserved a healthy lead but by the time the whistle for halftime sounded, Bishops had courageously found a way to stay in the fight and were only 20-22 behind. Bosch fullback David Simon played with confidence and stood out for his composure and finishing.
Then the best part of the second half saw Bishops doing everything right and adding 15 unanswered points to lead 35-22. Bosch narrowed the deficit to 29-25 with a try on the hour. It then took all of the 10-minutes for them to produce the winning points, a try by captain fantastic, Matthew Malherbe (#12) who powered over from close range with time up on the clock. Wing Ethan Gordon converted to earn the season ending win and give Bosch a Triple Crown and the undisputed bragging rights in the Suburbs with their fifth win in the derbies this season.
@Trots HJS (Tandem): Agree. What I saw from SS school coaching this year is that they are all putting in a lot of effort to develop players.
Followed their season with interest as one of our JBay boys played for them. Great results.
@Kantman: The coaching at Rondebosch is also top class and their first team coaching set up is very impressive.
Very tight season and great result for Rondebosch. Good that SS rugby is strong. The Rondebosch u16 team performed well against Winelands teams and the 1st team should be strong next year.