{"id":94819,"date":"2026-05-04T11:24:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T09:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=94819"},"modified":"2026-05-04T11:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T09:24:19","slug":"graeme-powers-to-makhanda-derby-win-at-st-andrews-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=94819","title":{"rendered":"Graeme powers to Makhanda derby win at St Andrew’s College"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Graeme
Graeme College continued an outstanding season with a victory over St Andrew’s College in a Makhanda derby on Saturday. Photo: Graeme College on Facebook<\/strong><\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The brilliant predatory instincts of centre and captain Erin Nelson<\/strong> sparked Graeme College<\/strong> to a memorable win over St Andrew’s College<\/strong> in their clash on the St Andrew’s Lower Field<\/strong> in Makhanda on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Dominating the first half to lead 22-3 at the break, the Graemians held off a fighting comeback from their old rivals to cross for two more tries in the second half and secure a well-deserved victory in their rivalry of almost a century-and-a-half, which has been dominated by St Andrew\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Nelson has grown into one of the most exciting players in SA schools rugby and, although he didn\u2019t cross the whitewash himself, he produced another influential display in midfield.<\/p>\n

Within 14 minutes, Graeme had built a 12-0 lead, with Nelson slicing through the defence twice to set up tries for fullback Lucritia Magau<\/strong> and scrumhalf Luke Doyle<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Flyhalf Ibenathi Kondile<\/strong> added a third try when the Graeme forwards drove powerfully for the line, picking up the ball to force his way over.<\/p>\n

St Andrew’s only got onto the board just before halftime through a penalty by Will Stevens<\/strong>, but they came out after the break with a renewed mindset and a determination to take the fight to their opponents.<\/p>\n

First, prop Sivathi Mjalo<\/strong> powered over for a try and then, from the kick-off, lock Josh van Zyl<\/strong> crashed through some would-be Graeme defenders on a memorable 60-metre run downfield. When he was eventually hauled in, St Andrew\u2019s was able to recycle the ball for Stevens to dash over.<\/p>\n

At 22-15, the game was back in the balance, but then came a crucial period during which Graeme was reduced to 14 men after Doyle was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle.<\/p>\n

But instead of St Andrew’s taking control, Graeme played with great common sense, holding onto possession and forcing their opponents to make all the play.<\/p>\n

From one such move, pacy wing Asakhe Ranuga<\/strong> picked up a loose ball near the halfway line, and there was nobody in front of him as he raced for the line.<\/p>\n

Then Graeme went on the attack again and, eventually, flank Akho Tonjeni forced his way over after brave defence from St Andrew’s to extend the visitors\u2019 lead to a commanding 34-15.<\/p>\n

Although St Andrew’s delivered one more riposte through wing Qawe Madikizela<\/strong>, there were only five minutes left after that, and Graeme was able to manage play until the end to send their supporters slightly delirious.<\/p>\n

Other matches<\/strong><\/p>\n

In another result which bucked the trend in the Eastern Cape, Daniel Pienaar<\/strong> held on in a thrilling finish to their Tinara Cup<\/strong> game against Brandwag<\/strong>, winning 23-22.<\/p>\n

The match was tightly contested throughout, with the Tigers<\/strong> <\/em>kicking three penalties and being awarded a penalty try, which left them trailing 16-17 at halftime.<\/p>\n

They then took a crucial lead with a converted try early in the second half (23-17), during which both sides battled for supremacy.<\/p>\n

Eventually, it was Brandwag who broke the deadlock when the Tigers lost possession, and scrumhalf Zanick Carolus<\/strong> ran 50 metres before unloading to fullback Rezanio Petrus<\/strong> for a try to make it a one-point game.<\/p>\n

However, the conversion went past the upright and, although there were still 18 minutes left, Daniel Pienaar threw everything into defence to keep their Kariega rivals at bay.<\/p>\n

Hudson Park<\/strong> produced a solid performance on Friday, outplaying Framesby<\/strong> 43-26. In a mid-week encounter, Selborne scored 36 points in each half, proving too strong for Ooskus Gymnasium, as they rumbled to a 72-15 victory.<\/p>\n

In Gqeberha, Pearson<\/strong> and King Edward VII (KES)<\/strong>, from Johannesburg, had a ding-dong battle, and eventually settled for a 15-15 draw. In Humansdorp, Nico Malan<\/strong> held the edge against Punt<\/strong>, of Mossel Bay, to win 24-13.<\/p>\n

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

Graeme College 34 (22) \u2013<\/strong> Tries: Lucritia Magau, Luke Doyle, Ibenathi Kondile, Asakhe Ranga, Akho Tonjeni. Penalty: Nelson. Conversions: Nelson (3). St Andrew’s College 22 (3) \u2013<\/strong> Tries: Sivatho Mjali, Will Stevens, Qawe Madikizela. Penalty: Stevens. Conversions: Stevens (2).<\/p>\n

Selborne 72 (36) \u2013<\/strong> Tries: Josh McKay, Lwandle Bacela (3), Othando Magadla, Daniel van Biljon (2), Travis Enslin, Connor Fowles, Rosh Els, Hlumelo Molosi, Daniel Rushmere. Conversions: Riley Hansel (6). Ooskus Gymnasium 15 (3) \u2013<\/strong> Tries: Kwagga Liebenberg, Tiaan Frazer. Penalty: Ethan Jansen. Conversion: Jansen<\/p>\n

Brandwag 22 (17) \u2013<\/strong> Tries: Josh Badenhorst, Zanick Carolus, Luan Greeff, Rezanio Petrus. Conversion: Petrus. Daniel Pienaar 23 (16) –<\/strong> not available<\/p>\n

Pearson 15 (8) \u2013<\/strong> Tries: Henrico Ferreira, Liyda Maswana. Penalty: Keano Beling. Conversion: Beling. KES 15 (7) –<\/strong> not available<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The brilliant predatory instincts of centre and captain Erin Nelson sparked Graeme College to a memorable win over St Andrew’s College in their clash on the St Andrew’s Lower Field in Makhanda on Saturday. Dominating the first half to lead 22-3 at the break, the Graemians held off a fighting comeback from their old rivals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":94822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94819","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\/94819","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\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/94822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}