{"id":93099,"date":"2026-04-05T15:59:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T13:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=93099"},"modified":"2026-04-05T15:59:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T13:59:45","slug":"northcliff-and-windhoek-produce-a-classic-at-saints-easter-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=93099","title":{"rendered":"Northcliff and Windhoek produce a classic at Saints Easter Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rugby
Rugby played, friends made. Northcliff High and Windhoek High share a photo after a fantastic contest. Photo: Northcliff High School on Facebook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With just about five minutes to go, it looked like Windhoek High<\/strong>\u00a0were about to end their battle with Northcliff High<\/strong> as the winners, but there was a final twist in the tale, and Northcliff snatched a last-gasp 40-35 victory at the Saints Sports Festival in Johannesburg on Saturday.<\/p>\n

With 10 minutes to play, Windhoek High, trailing Northcliff 30-32, stole the ball from kick-off. They quickly whipped the ball out wide, where eighthman Isaiah Kazandovi<\/strong> crashed through the defensive line and made 20 metres before being brought down five metres shy of the try line.<\/p>\n

As he went to ground, he popped the ball up for flyhalf MC-Rein van Wyk<\/strong>, who dived over for a try to add to his highlight plays, which included a drop-goal<\/strong><\/a> in Thursday’s win over the Hartpury College XV<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Only a few minutes later, Northcliff’s loosehead prop Jordan Venter<\/strong> turned the tables from the base of the ruck. Spotting space around the fringes of the breakdown, he sniped with the flair of a scrumhalf to seal the deal.<\/p>\n

After Thursday’s intense loss against Windhoek High<\/strong><\/a>, the Hartpury College<\/strong> XV<\/strong>, from Gloucestershire<\/strong>, made the most of their opportunities to cruise to a comfortable 47-18 victory over a Ho\u00ebrskool Garsfontein Invitational XV<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Christian Gordon-Astbury<\/strong>, on the left wing, scored a special try that required some finishing. It’s no surprise he’s enjoyed time with the Leicester Tigers<\/strong> youth academy.<\/p>\n

He took possession of the ball on the blindside from a failed lineout maul attempt on the Garsies<\/strong><\/em>‘ five-metre line before stepping inside to beat his man. Then, he bounced off another defender before collecting five points.<\/p>\n

Presented with good ball from their hard-working forwards, the English outfit’s backs impressed, demonstrating an accurate kicking and passing game.<\/p>\n

Garsies had their moments too, scoring their first try of the festival in style. They gathered momentum through a series of phases in the opposition 22-metre area, before letting the ball loose down the line, where inside centre Gustav de Waal<\/strong> threw a skip pass for left wing Teagan Eckard<\/strong>, who dived into the left corner for five points.<\/p>\n

The reaction of the Pretoria side, which jumped for joy, showed how much it meant to them.<\/p>\n

Scorers:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Northcliff High 40 (17) –<\/strong> Tries: Ethan Leonette (2), Luke Bloomberg, Troy Kaminsky, Jonothan Haw, Jacques Fourie, Jordan Venter. Conversions: Jonothan Haw (3). Penalties: Haw (2). Windhoek High 35 (15) –<\/strong> Tries: Carlos Florian, MC-Rein van Wyk, Xavier Bampton, William Beukes. Conversions: MC-Rein van Wyk (3). Penalties: Van Wyk (3).<\/p>\n

Hartpury College 47 (5) –<\/strong> Tries: Christian Gordon-Astbury (2), Alex Orehawa, Rakhat Clarkson, Luca Stickings, Felix Baker, Jardel Furness. Conversions: Cynyr MacRae (6). Ho\u00ebrskool Garsfontein Invitational XV 18 (6) –<\/strong> Tries: Teagan Eckard, Tristan Wepener. Conversion: Katlego Lebelo. Penalties: Katlego Lebelo (2).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With just about five minutes to go, it looked like Windhoek High\u00a0were about to end their battle with Northcliff High as the winners, but there was a final twist in the tale, and Northcliff snatched a last-gasp 40-35 victory at the Saints Sports Festival in Johannesburg on Saturday. With 10 minutes to play, Windhoek High, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":93145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93099","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\/93099","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\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}