{"id":70113,"date":"2025-04-17T15:48:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T13:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=70113"},"modified":"2025-04-17T15:48:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T13:48:12","slug":"saints-march-on-with-a-victory-on-opening-day-of-saints-easter-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=70113","title":{"rendered":"Saints march on with an opening day victory at Saints Easter Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sicelo Sakawuli, fullback of St Stithians College, in action during his side’s 32-0 victory over Clifton College during the Standard Bank Easter Festival. Photo: Debbi Adcock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

St<\/strong>\u00a0Stithians College<\/strong>\u00a0kicked off its 41st annual\u00a0Standard Bank Saints Easter Festival<\/strong> on Thursday with an emphatic 32-0 victory <\/span>over Clifton College<\/strong>. The hosts enjoyed a healthy 25-0 lead at the break.<\/p>\n

Saints<\/strong><\/em>‘ flyhalf, Oliver Wilson<\/strong>, played a major part in his side’s success as they also enjoyed front-foot possession thanks to their pack of forwards. Wilson’s distribution was on point, as well as his kicking from hand.<\/p>\n

This allowed inside centre, Tyler MacLennan<\/strong>, to tear up the midfield at will and cause Clifton College’s defence a heap of problems.<\/p>\n

The home side’s fullback, Sicelo Sakawuli<\/strong>, also enjoyed a good day at the office, delivering rock-solid defence as well as some exciting attacking plays from the back.<\/p>\n

Up front, Saints’ hooker, Oliver Groves<\/strong>, and flank, Sipho Cele<\/strong>, produced solid performances.<\/p>\n

Clifton College will face Ho\u00ebrskool Windhoek<\/strong> in their second clash on Saturday. The team from Durban is coached by former Springbok prop Heinke van der Merwe<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

St Andrew’s College<\/strong>, of Makhanda, proved too strong for Northcliff<\/strong>, of Johannesburg. In a high-scoring clash, St Andrew’s opened their Easter Festival account with a comfortable 54-26 victory.<\/p>\n

Marais Viljoen<\/strong>, of Alberton, was supposed to play against Northcliff but withdrew from the festival.<\/p>\n

Northcliff put up a good fight in the first half and St Andrew’s College led only 26-12 at the break. Wing Christian Adams<\/strong> opened the scoring for Northcliff with a superb run down the sideline.<\/p>\n

The team from Makhanda shifted a gear in the second half with fullback, Will Stevens<\/strong>, leading the charge. He, together with Aphindile Ngcuka<\/strong> (inside centre) and Oliver Johns<\/strong> (flyhalf), pried open gaps in Northcliff’s defence that weren’t there during the first half.<\/p>\n

Northcliff’s Connor Venter<\/strong> (replacement hooker), Matthew Hunt<\/strong> (fullback), and Declan Diesel<\/strong> (lock) deserve pats on the back for their wholehearted efforts.<\/p>\n

In the opening clash of the festival, Rand Park High<\/strong> lost 20-31 against the second stringers from the UK’s Hartpury College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

SCORERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

St Stithians College 32 (25) –<\/strong> Tries: Oliver Groves (2), Cade Elsey, Louis McAslin. Conversions: Oliver Wilson (3). Penalties: Wilson (2). Clifton College 0<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

St Andrew’s College 54 (26) –<\/strong> Tries: Connor Malan, Amohelang Habi, Coel Trollip, Joshua van Zyl, Will Stevens, Myles Sansom, David Chaarley, Adam Nurse. Conversions: Stevens (4), Daniel Arnold (3). Northcliff 26 (12) –<\/strong> Tries: Christian Adams, Michael Nwogwugwu, Connor Verster, Ryan Niemand. Conversions: Matthew Hunt (3).<\/p>\n

Hartpury College II 31 (19) –<\/strong> Tries: Hendry Packham, Arthur Shrimpton, Ellis Bowman, Jackson Bowles, Edward Collins. Conversions: Dylan Davies (3). Rand Park High 20 (10) –<\/strong> Tries: Cian de Jongh, Aston Billson, Siphelele Nonjola, Nkosana Nkosi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St\u00a0Stithians College\u00a0kicked off its 41st annual\u00a0Standard Bank Saints Easter Festival on Thursday with an emphatic 32-0 victory over Clifton College. The hosts enjoyed a healthy 25-0 lead at the break. Saints‘ flyhalf, Oliver Wilson, played a major part in his side’s success as they also enjoyed front-foot possession thanks to their pack of forwards. Wilson’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}