Dale College will make a 250km trip from King Williams Town to Grey High in Port Elizabeth for this weekend’s big Eastern Cape clash. As things stand Selborne, Dale and Grey are the three teams battling it out for Eastern Cape top honours this year. The two Border powerhouses are unbeaten in regional inter-schools matches, while Grey suffering a somewhat surprising 25-29 away loss in Queenstown during April, to leave the PE preseason favourites with some work to do now if they are to finish first. Grey are deadly on home soil and Dale will have to produce one of their best efforts of the season if they want to return home victorious.
EASTERN CAPE TABLE
| # | EASTERN CAPE | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | MP | BP | Pts | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Selborne | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 214 | 84 | 130 | 20 | 2 | 22.0 | 4.40 |
| 2 | Dale | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 114 | 66 | 48 | 20 | 2 | 22.0 | 4.40 |
| 3 | Grey HS | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 239 | 89 | 150 | 16 | 5 | 21.0 | 4.20 |
| 4 | Queen’s | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 129 | 153 | -24 | 16 | 2 | 18.0 | 3.00 |
| 5 | St Andrew’s | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 144 | 179 | -35 | 12 | 3 | 15.0 | 2.50 |
| 6 | Daniel Pienaar | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 52 | 40 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 7.0 | 2.33 |
| 7 | Nico Malan | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 74 | 117 | -43 | 8 | 1 | 9.0 | 2.25 |
| 8 | Marlow | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 104 | 118 | -14 | 8 | 3 | 11.0 | 2.20 |
| 9 | Brandwag (Uitenhage) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 63 | 72 | -9 | 4 | 2 | 6.0 | 2.00 |
| 10 | Kingswood | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 53 | 74 | -21 | 4 | 1 | 5.0 | 1.67 |
| 11 | Framesby | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 76 | 92 | -16 | 4 | 2 | 6.0 | 1.50 |
| 12 | Hudson Park | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 103 | 136 | -33 | 4 | 4 | 8.0 | 1.33 |
| 13 | Cambridge | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 52 | 141 | -89 | 4 | 1 | 5.0 | 1.25 |
| 14 | Graeme | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 108 | 164 | -56 | 4 | 1 | 5.0 | 1.00 |
DALE TEAM
| DALE COLLEGE | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Zimi Ngqongqwana |
| 2 | Sango Mtotywa |
| 3 | Kuhle Mokhoabane |
| 4 | Johann Loubser |
| 5 | Lwazi Poswayo |
| 6 | Buntu Ponono |
| 7 | Siyanda Am |
| 8 | Bunono Sindi |
| 9 | Sibusiso Ngcokovane © |
| 10 | Courtney Winnaar |
| 11 | Luyolo Khuse |
| 12 | Siyamthanda Mgubo |
| 13 | Yamkela Nyalambisa |
| 14 | Luzuko Mase |
| 15 | Justerino Davids |
@Queenian: the short and stocky guy is the 2nd team no.8. Dale’s biggest problem was. The rolling maul. Was not easy to stop and cost the boys.
No.13 should be on the border list he is good.
@rugbyjoeblue: Four losses certainly does not make a bad season, unless you are Grey Bloem supporter. I think they are doing pretty well this season considering the relentless schedule they had early on and the team being quite small in comparison to some of the teams up North.
@mike, I have seen plenty of tackles slipped every week so commitment or character may be an issue but sometimes the oppsition play is just too good to be succesfully defended. When the game is open, fast and unstructured this is inevitable.
@Knight_CHS07: I see Grens are having a great season long time coming.
Queens play like that against Stirling they could battle. Very confusing.
@rugbyjoeblue: @Mike: They will be severely punished by Selborne and Grey College if they don’t fix that soon. Then again, it seems they do not struggle to put points on the scoreboard either. Reminds me of the All Blacks in the mid to late 90s. Not defensively astute, but always managed to put more points than the opposition.
In my view, this could work for them against GCB as they themselves have shown to be lacklustre in defence for their standards at times. They could, however be in lots of trouble against a Selborne team that hasn’t given away many points this season.
@Knight_CHS07:
maybe the field got a bit too bouncy for the boys, being used to the hard Graveyard and couldn’t finish it off 
@rugbyjoeblue: You make a very good point. Totally agree with you. The defensive concern is not commitment on defense in my opinion. It’s probably more to do with tackle technique and defensive structures.
Grey / Dale clash certainly was good as a spectacle, but Grey really need to address their defensive problems, which has cost them dearly in all 4 of their losses. Surely the coaches have acknowledged this???? Dale certainly were full value on the day, but from a Grey perspective it is a concern. Dale managed to score 38 points against Grey at Grey, whilst only scoring 13 vs Queens, 25 vs Nico, 17 vs Grens, 22 vs Graeme and 14 vs Hudson Park. Perhaps it shows the character and quality of the Dale performance on Saturday, but the scoreline is a major concern for Grey going forward. The defence has ultimately cost them a good season resulting in those 4 losses, and hopefully they will be able to rectify it before next term before some tricky clashes.
Well done to both teams (Grey and Dale). I must say i expected nothing less than 100% performance from both teams and i think…well from what i’ve read thus far, that it was a cracker of a match.
@Playa: looks like Dale had a good time on the “Matress”
@Queenian: I’m also having a hard time trying to to understand what is going on with the QC 1st team. After watching them against Dale (2nd half) i was almost sure that they were back in business…and then i heard that they were poor against Hudson and now this…
.
@Kingcharles: I noticed quite a few second-team boys playing in the second -half.This never helps a team defensively. The inside centre was also taken off due to injury early on which also had an effect.
They seem to play attacking, positive rugby which may shift the focus away from defense on occasion, but it is lovely to watch!
@rugbyfan: What the hell is going on with QC there is something not right, you say coaching maybe just look at what Griffy does for Dale.
@Playa: The players that impressed were Courntney the wizard, the No 13 was really good very impressed with him he should make the Border Craven week side, No 15 played well, No 8 had a good game the short stocky guy they brought on for the last 15 minutes was great but will say the Dale pack really punched above there weight.
Another player who impressed was the 2nd team No 8.
@rugbyfan: The scoreline suggests that QC was asleep for the whole 70 minutes there. They’ve been pretty inconsistent this season. That Jerry Danquah is a handful!!!!
@DC ARMY: Just a breakdown of the scores, with Dale mentioned first:
7-0; 7-7; 14-7; 14-14; 14-19; 14-22; 14-27; 21-27 (HT); 21-34; 24-34; 24-41; 31-41; 31-46; 38-46 (FT)
@KingCharles
Lamond Bouwer and Dylan Vermaak will be back for the 3rd term.
@Umtata: Great stuff! Not the best side that hockey team, but they sure know how to play as a team.
@QC86:
@Queenian: I was at the St Andrew’s vs Queens game and must say QC were shocking its like they were not there to play I am convinced now there is a coaching problem there as they just went through the motions very disappointing to say the least.
Only positive was the “Jerry show” another 2 tries by this boy showed his class I think it now 13 tries in five games this boy is poor class and will be very surprised if he does not play SA schools.
@Playa: The Ref had no influence on the out come of the game he made a few mistakes but that was both ways I think he actually did very well.
But I will say this was a good advert for schoolboy rugby and is the best game I have seen this year. Also Dale can be proud they fought till the bitter end and if it had not been for some poor ball handling at the end could have come away with a draw.
What a great game of rugby ,well done too Dale College for making a fist of it until the final wistle,however on the day the best team did win,and there was nothing wrong with the refing.the appointed ref did not pitch,his replacement handled the game very well,with a few errors, as you will find in any game,having said that Grey will have to look at there defensive systems again,there defense at times was woeful,and against stronger opposition they are going to get slaughtered,thinking of Selborne and Grey Bloem games still to come.Mike do you perhaps know when and if Lamond Bouwer will play again this season ?
Great game of rugby. Blaming the ref-yawn!
Deserved to win means that the side that played the better game ended up winning. Yes let’s rather leave the reffing situation then. As far as I know , all Grey sides won besides the 16C team.
@Umtata; @Mike; What does deserved to win the match mean? The All Blacks certainly did not deserve to beat the Roses yesterday but they did, same as Ireland last year but they did. As Umtata said Dale did not take their chances as well as Grey did. Lets just congratulate Grey on winning and by the look of the scoreline it must have been a terrific match. As with the referee situation the less said the better. i mean biased referees and home town decisions are part and parcel of SBR always have been and always will be, its like poaching. Obviously you guys have different opinions of what happened yesterday and for understable reasons.
So can you give us a picture of how the match unfolded and other scorelines?
I’m not making excuses for the game in 2012. Queens deserved to win, in the same way that Grey deserved to win yesterday. All I’m saying is that it’s unfair to say that the ref was unfair. It takes away from a good game yesterday and Grey deserved to win, which they did.
@Mike: luckily I was at the game you are talking about 2 years ago in Qtown. The ref did pitch in that game, he reffed the first half and could not continue because of an injury. They could not use the 2nd xv ref because he was a parent of a QC player so they used the guy who reffed the 3rd team game. Grey lost that game because your no9 decided to dive in the in goal area instead of dotting the ball down, lost the ball mid air with no one next to him. Grey did deserve to win the game yesterday as Dale did not take their chances as well as Grey did. That won’t change the fact that the ref made some shocking decisions, its part of the game it happens. It was a good advert of SBR and I’m glad Dale was competetive till the final whistle
@fairplay: @Umtata: An old boy did ref the match, he is not a coach. Two years ago at Queens, the union appointed ref did not pitch for the 1st Xv game. So there was a mini conference on the field before the game and the man who reffed the 2nd Xv game would ref the 1st Xv game. That man was a teacher at Queens. The penalty count was around 15-5 against grey that day with Queens winning in the last minute with a penalty and Grey with a yellow card or two. I was told on that day not to complain at all about the reffing situation. The same scenario happened yesterday. The union appointed ref did not pitch and it was decided that the 2nd Xv ref would take over the 1st Xv game. If a ref is unfair, it will be in his nature and he won’t be able to blow a straight game. I saw no problem with the reffing in the 2nds game first of all. Second of all, I sat behind Dale staff and they had no problem with the reffing in either match. So I’ll ask two questions. Who was the better side on the day ? And does the score reflect the match that took place. In my opinion, Grey was the better side on the day, and although I was really impressed by the way Dale hung in there and played good rugby, Dale did not deserve to win that game against the Grey performance. The result and score line reflect the match that happened perfectly and we therefore cannot insinuate that the ref had any wrongful effect on the game purely basing on the fact that he’s an old boy. I say well done to both teams, it was a great match to watch and it was handled very well.
@fairplay: the ref was an old boy not even that old. He made a few shocking decisions but that won’t change the result.
I heard the ref for the 1st Team game was one of the coaches/old boy dont know how true this is but if it is true I wonder how fair the game was.
Grey 46 Dale 38
2nds Grey 34 Dale 22
@Playa: I will be at the Grey game or at least the 1st game I will send you updates.
From what my mate tells me the hockey score is 2 – 2
@Playa: well he is the exact opposite,can’t reach the stars,to short and fat
and hard working ja when ever i drive home in the evenings ,should i say early afternoon he is sitting at the Malcom Andrews.
@QC86: Hahaha!
Through hard work, reach for the stars.
@Dale College Per Ardua Ad Astra: Cool bud.
@Dale College Per Ardua Ad Astra: what does Per Ardua Ad Astra mean,my latin and spelling is not so good
Im not im afraid, but will try post what i can!!! Go DALE
@Umtata: @Dale College Per Ardua Ad Astra: Are either of you going to be out in PE tomorrow? Please send updates if you are.
@QC86: Ja hey. It’s been a long time coming…doesn’t make it any easier to bear though. Huge loss for the Dale family.
Sad to hear of Uncle Jack’s passing,must be a very sad time for all Dalians,RIP Uncle Jack from all of us at Selborne
@CHS08:
we can also poach you see 
@DC ARMY: I’ll definitely look out for him.
I must be honest I underestimated Dale at the beginning of this season, but they have proven to be a difficult side to beat. This being said , I’ll back Grey to win. If Grey play the game intelligently and starve Dale of good ball Grey will win by 20. The loosies will play a major role in deciding this one . If Grey however allow Dale possession and allow those backs to run, it will be a much closer game. All the best gents, may the best team win, whoever they may be.
The Dale reserve hooker is u17 this year and went to Cambridge Junior School#
I foresee a massacre of epic proportions.
I just hope the weather plays its part so we can watch some lekker running rugga. Dale forwards can hold their own, I say this because I have seen them play. The backs willl do what they do every weekend. Let the best team win.
He started against Kingswood this weekend, we call him the wrecking ball!!! He is short but built like a ox on steriods and pap!!!!! Amazing player
@DC ARMY: They call him “Boobs” (the Dale reserve hooker)
don’t know why though lol. He’s my favourite after Mr Wizzard (Courtney Winnar).
I’m not doubting Grey’s ability to take the game, but i’m sticking to my guns on this one. All things are possible if we just BELIEVE
.
My money is on Dale. Only need 5 good balls from the forwards to collect the points to win it. Backs will do it from long range.
@Dale College Per Ardua Ad Astra: Small world hey Nev…last saw you battling a lekker hangover at reunion…
mt.ubumbo@gmail.com
This dale side oozes self belief and character, watch out grey!!!! @playa, please send me your email address. nev.mclean@gmail.com
Never an easy Dale game. I’ll take a Grey victory by any margin–even1 point!
@Kingcharles: Be kind, your majesty…be kind
@Knight_CHS07: Nothing wrong with being optimistic mate, but in reality Dale are in for a hiding hopefully not as severe as the beatibg dished out to St Andrews lat week. It will just be a matter of damage control. I think Grey have siwtched into beast mode, having thrown away games they should have easily won early on and are hell bent on the making this season the success it was predicted lto be ike years ago.
In the backline Dale will handle themselves just fine, it’ s in the forwards where will be taken to the cleaners, but@Mike; please watch out for the Dale reserve hooker if he plays or comes on as asubstitute, that kid is something else, he is a handful.
Dont see Dale even getting close on saturday,but i said the same thing when Grey played Queens,so anything can happen.Honestly though if both teams play to there true potential Grey should take it comfortably.Grey by 15.
@playa, yes I think Dale could be in for a long afternoon. Dont see Dale winning on the Philip.Grey have last lost on home soil in 2012 to GC.
@Playa: I’m backing our home boys to take this one. Dale have a lot of work to do, but i believe they can do it…Go Amadoda!!
Everything points to a Grey victory, and I realistically expect one too. One can’t read into the Queens games as there really wasn’t much in it in both the DC-QC and GPE-QC games. Both were just won by the better team on the day, and the score lines are living proof.
Do yourselves proud boys!