{"id":70216,"date":"2025-04-17T23:02:44","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T21:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=70216"},"modified":"2025-04-17T23:02:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T21:02:44","slug":"hat-trick-heroics-and-hilton-brilliance-light-up-easter-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=70216","title":{"rendered":"Hat-trick Heroics and Hilton brilliance light up Easter Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_70223\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-70223\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-70223\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hilton-College-vs-St-Johns-College-400x273.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"273\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-70223\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Frans Lombard\/Actionpix.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"267\" data-end=\"389\"><strong>Hilton College<\/strong> ruled the roost in the final match of the first day at the <strong>Standard Bank St John\u2019s College Easter Festival<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"267\" data-end=\"389\">Relive all the action on <strong>SuperSport Schools<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/StJohnsEasterFest2025\"><strong>(www.supersportschools.com)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"391\" data-end=\"771\">The men in white delivered a dominant and entertaining performance, securing a 29\u20135 victory over the hosts, <strong>St John\u2019s College<\/strong>, on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"391\" data-end=\"771\">Flyhalf, <strong>Liyema Nela,<\/strong> made <strong>Burger Field<\/strong> his own, expertly orchestrating play. Beyond his playmaking duties, Nela took on the home team&#8217;s defensive line himself on several occasions, catching the hosts off guard, and he also sliced through for a well-earned try.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rugby - St John&amp;apos;s College vs Hilton College - St John&amp;apos;s Easter Rugby Festival - 17 April 2025\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CEpM2zFmxI8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"773\" data-end=\"1065\">In response, St John&#8217;s playmaker <strong>Gerald van Wyk<\/strong>, battled valiantly to spark his team\u2019s attack in the crisp Johannesburg evening air. He handled distribution admirably under pressure and occasionally shifted momentum with clever chips and cross-field kicks that forced Hilton onto the back foot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1067\" data-end=\"1381\">Up front, the loose forward clash was fierce. Hilton\u2019s eighthman, <strong>Zander Muller <\/strong>&#8211; tenacious and tireless &#8211; was a standout. His defensive commitment and high work rate proved invaluable for the KwaZulu-Natal side. His opposite number, <strong>Mako Mandizha<\/strong>, carried with intent but struggled to breach Hilton&#8217;s solid defensive line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1383\" data-end=\"1716\">Earlier, the curtain-raiser between <strong>Pretoria Boys High School<\/strong>\u2019s <em><strong>Candies<\/strong><\/em> and <strong>Ho\u00ebrskool Diamantveld<\/strong>\u2019s <em><strong>Diamonds<\/strong><\/em> transformed into a try-fest in the second half. The Candies\u2019 left-wing <strong>Neo Matlaletsa<\/strong> dazzled with the festival\u2019s first hat-trick, punishing the Diamonds&#8217; defensive lapses with his blistering pace in open space.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rugby - Pretoria Boys&amp;apos; High vs Ho\u00ebrskool Diamantveld - St John&amp;apos;s Easter Rugby Festival 17 April 2025\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7LlL0XnK1lA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1718\" data-end=\"2090\">Diamantveld&#8217;s midfield maestro, <strong>Jonathan Harding<\/strong>, once again impressed, while vice-captain and lock <strong>Zuan Rautenbach<\/strong> gave his all in trying to generate momentum for the Kimberley side&#8217;s pack. However, a quickfire burst of tries from full-back, <strong>Blake Mager<\/strong>, and blindside flank, <strong>Pieter Lindeboom<\/strong> saw the Candies surge clear, ultimately sealing a 43\u201329 victory.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SCORERS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Hilton College 29 (15)<\/strong> &#8211; Tries: Liyema Nela, Ricky Adonis, Zander Vorster, Khazimla Makali. Conversions: Nela (2), Tristan Uys. Penalty: Uys. <strong>St John&#8217;s College 5 (0)<\/strong> &#8211; Try: Gerald van Wyk.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pretoria Boys High School 43 (5)<\/strong> &#8211; Tries: Neo Matlaletsa (3), Michael Fourie, Blake Mager, Pieter Lindeboom, Reece Holman. Conversions: Blake Mager (4). <strong>Diamantveld 29 (5)<\/strong> &#8211; Tries: Dian Ellis, Jonathan Harding, Zuan Rautenbach, Penalty Try, CJ Meiring. Conversions: JG van Heerden (2).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hilton College ruled the roost in the final match of the first day at the Standard Bank St John\u2019s College Easter Festival. Relive all the action on SuperSport Schools &#8211; (www.supersportschools.com) The men in white delivered a dominant and entertaining performance, securing a 29\u20135 victory over the hosts, St John\u2019s College, on Thursday evening. Flyhalf, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":70223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70216","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\/70216","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}