{"id":95276,"date":"2026-05-11T09:29:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T07:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=95276"},"modified":"2026-05-11T09:29:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T07:29:59","slug":"dale-college-holds-off-selborne-fightback-to-capture-reunion-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=95276","title":{"rendered":"Dale College holds off Selborne fightback to capture Reunion win"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"With
With a win over Selborne College, Dale recorded their ninth win in 11 matches thus far in the 2026 season. Photo: Dale College on Facebook<\/strong><\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dale College<\/strong> made it a reunion weekend to remember as they built a solid lead and then held off a gutsy fightback from their East London rivals, Selborne College<\/strong>, to win 31-27 in another thriller in Qonce on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The result, on the occasion of Dale’s 165th<\/sup> anniversary, was a mirror image of an earlier victory this season in another of their big derby days when they edged out Queen’s College<\/strong> 31-29 in Komani last month.<\/p>\n

It gives a promising season the glimmer of an outstanding year for Dale \u2013 they have also beaten Hudson Park High<\/strong> – although they know that their Border rivals will be lurking with serious intent in their return matches.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Dale nearly let it slip as Selborne refused to give up the fight.<\/p>\n

Ahead 17-10 at the break, the home side put real daylight between themselves and their opponents when tries by loose forwards Ulikhaya Stuurman<\/strong> and Liybona Mayikana<\/strong>, his second of the match, propelled them into a commanding 31-10 lead, with Sonwabise Dyani<\/strong> adding the conversions.<\/p>\n

But Selborne, who scored their first try of the match through hooker Joshua McKay<\/strong>, is not a side that is easily put away.<\/p>\n

With 20 minutes left, they mounted their comeback with a try by Mozesh van der Byl<\/strong>, and then flank Daniel Rushmere<\/strong> pounded his way through the defence for a converted try to send jitters through the ranks of the Dale supporters at 31-22.<\/p>\n

Selborne struck again with another powerful forward maul, resulting in Mbono Gqoboko dotting down, and suddenly the game was very much alive at 31-27.<\/p>\n

However, with just three minutes left, Dale stood firm to keep their line intact for another significant victory.<\/p>\n

In Makhanda, St Andrew’s College<\/strong>‘s players and supporters breathed a massive sigh of relief when they broke their duck this season with a solid 33-27 result over Cradock’s Marlow Agricultural<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

No. 8 James Badenhorst<\/strong> was the standout player for the home team, crossing for two tries. He was a constant threat to the Marlow defence with his surging runs.<\/p>\n

Big lock Josh van Zyl<\/strong> was also a factor when St Andrew\u2019s built up momentum, and after one of his drives upfield, flyhalf Luke Chorley<\/strong> went over for a crucial score.<\/p>\n

At that stage, the match was balanced on a knife’s edge, with St Andrew’s hanging onto a narrow 21-20 lead with 15 minutes left.<\/p>\n

Chorley’s try gave them some breathing space, and then Van Zyl, himself, charged over for another score that increased their lead to a more comfortable 33-20 margin with just more than 10 minutes left.<\/p>\n

Although the persistent Marlow team continued to press and scored one more try by JG de Lange<\/strong>, St Andrew’s had done enough to plant the seeds of a possible revival to their season.<\/p>\n

Across town, on the Marais Field<\/strong> at Graeme College<\/strong>, the home side underlined the outstanding quality of their attacking play as they brushed aside the Cambridge High<\/strong> challenge, leading 66-0 at halftime before finishing with a 90-21 victory.<\/p>\n

Typically, fullback Lucritia Magau<\/strong> was in the thick of things with a hat-trick of tries, and towering wing Asakhe Ranuga<\/strong> and hooker Athi Manyati<\/strong> both went over twice.<\/p>\n

Accolades, though, must go to Cambridge, who showed enormous resolve in the second half to score three tries to nearly match their opponents in that period.<\/p>\n

In East London, Port Rex<\/strong> registered a solid 31-19 win over Ooskus Gymnasium.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The following matches were cancelled due to the heavy rain: Hudson Park v Kingswood, Grey High v Queen\u2019s, Nico Malan v Pearson, Muir v Union High.<\/p>\n

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

Dale College 31 (17) –<\/strong> Tries: Kungawo Jaca, Caleb Smith, Liyabona Mayikana (2), Ulikhaya Stuurman. Conversions: Sonwabise Dyani (3). Selborne College 27 (10) –<\/strong> Tries: Josh McKay, Zweletu Njoholo, Daniel Rushmere, Mozesh van der Byl, Mbono Gqoboko. Conversion: Connor Fowles<\/p>\n

Graeme College 90<\/strong> (66) –<\/strong> Tries: Andrew Muir, Erin Nelson, Lucritia Magau (3), Athi Manyati (2), Asakhe Ranuga (2), Iviwe Mshubeki, Torres Fourie, Ibenathi Kondile, Akho Tonjeni, Ethan de Wet. Conversions: Nelson (8), Kondile (2). Cambridge High<\/strong> 21 (0) –<\/strong>\u00a0not available<\/p>\n

St Andrew’s College 33 (14) –<\/strong> Tries: Ross Faber, James Badenhorst (2), Luke Chorley, Josh van Zyl. Conversions: Will Stevens (4). Marlow Agricultural 27 (10) –<\/strong> Tries: Matthew Lieberum, Herman le Roux, JG de Lange. Penalty: Hurter, Jan-Louw du Plessis. Conversions: Cole Hurter, Du Plessis (2).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dale College made it a reunion weekend to remember as they built a solid lead and then held off a gutsy fightback from their East London rivals, Selborne College, to win 31-27 in another thriller in Qonce on Saturday. The result, on the occasion of Dale’s 165th anniversary, was a mirror image of an earlier […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":95289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95276","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\/95276","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=95276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/95289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}