{"id":96547,"date":"2026-05-26T12:54:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T10:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=96547"},"modified":"2026-05-26T12:54:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T10:54:02","slug":"grey-high-pulls-clear-in-second-half-to-win-at-st-andrews-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=96547","title":{"rendered":"Grey High pulls clear in second half to win at St Andrew&#8217;s College"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_96549\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-96549\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-96549\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/rugby-st-andrews-grey-high-230526-400x365.jpg\" alt=\"St Andrew's College scored four tries against Grey High but fell to an 18-poitn defeat on Saturday in Makhanda. Photo: St Andrew's College on Facebook.\" width=\"400\" height=\"365\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-96549\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">St Andrew&#8217;s College scored four tries against Grey High but fell to a 20-point defeat on Saturday in Makhanda. Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StAndrewsCollegeMakhanda\"><strong>St Andrew&#8217;s College on Facebook<\/strong><\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Grey High<\/strong> produced a commanding performance up front to comfortably quell the challenge of <strong>St Andrew&#8217;s College<\/strong>, winning their clash 42-22 on <strong>Lower Field<\/strong> in Makhanda on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The visitors laid down a marker early on, with flank <strong>Sibonelo Stuurman<\/strong> crossing for his first try after only a couple of minutes.<\/p>\n<p>From there, they never relinquished their grip on the proceedings, despite the best efforts of St Andrew\u2019s, well led by their skipper, <strong>Sivatho Mjali<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Not even two yellow cards at one stage derailed Grey&#8217;s march to victory, although St Andrew&#8217;s scored one of their four tries in that period to make sure the game was interestingly poised at 14-7 to Grey at halftime.<\/p>\n<p>Hardworking prop <strong>Mark Ewing<\/strong> was the scorer of that try and, later in the second half, he repeated that determined effort, barging over for a second time.<\/p>\n<p>That took the score to 21-12 \u2013 hooker <strong>Micah Wessels<\/strong> had crossed for Grey \u2013 but every time the home team put points on the board, Grey answered with a scoring riposte of their own.<\/p>\n<p>This time it was big lock <strong>Jean Nel<\/strong> who crashed over as Grey showed patience with their constant driving from mauls close to the St Andrew&#8217;s try line. It was supremely relentless, and St Andrew&#8217;s found it difficult to counter.<\/p>\n<p>The Andreans were always in the hunt, though, and tries by <strong>Avu Bangazi<\/strong> and <strong>Josh van Zyl<\/strong> kept their supporters interested. Grey High, though, was able to hit back regularly, and pressure from the maul saw <strong>Stuurman<\/strong> and <strong>Blake Parker<\/strong> add further tries to take the visitors out to a comfortable margin of victory.<\/p>\n<p>Back at flyhalf after overcoming an injury, <strong>Nathan Trytsman<\/strong> assisted the Grey cause by slotting six conversions, while St Andrew&#8217;s star <strong>Will Stevens<\/strong> lacked his usual accuracy, kicking only one of four conversions and also missing a penalty.<\/p>\n<p>In two remarkable finishes, <strong>Marlow Agricultural<\/strong> scored a try on the hooter to draw 25-25 with <strong>Nico Malan<\/strong> in Cradock, and <strong>Daniel Pienaar<\/strong> slotted a conversion kick with less than a minute remaining to share the honours with <strong>Despatch<\/strong>, 18-18.<\/p>\n<p>Marlow dominated the early stages of their match against Nico Malan, running in tries by <strong>Marcus September<\/strong> and <strong>Logan van Vuuren<\/strong> within the first nine minutes to shoot out to a 14-0 lead.<\/p>\n<p>After that, the match was in the balance as Nico Malan fought back. In fact, it was Marlow who needed to come from behind to claim a share of the spoils.<\/p>\n<p>In response to conceding those early tries, Nico Malan hit back with a potent burst through the Marlow defence by flank <strong>Callie de Lange<\/strong> and a penalty from <strong>Leighton Lawrence<\/strong>, who left the Humansdorp school trailing 8-14 at the break.<\/p>\n<p>In the second half, there was never much in it, but the visitors looked to have seized the initiative when lock <strong>Ruben van Dijk<\/strong> and wing <strong>Reagan Stone<\/strong> bounded over for late tries in the 64th and 67th minutes, turning a 15-20 deficit into a handy 25-20 lead.<\/p>\n<p>Marlow, though, refused to throw in the towel. From a penalty close to the Nico Malan line, they set up a driving maul and eventually <strong>Sinqobile Siyengo<\/strong> powered his way over for the score-equalling try.<\/p>\n<p>Then it was left to the conversion to win it for Marlow, but to the home team&#8217;s anguish, the effort slid wide of the posts, and the contest ended in a stalemate.<\/p>\n<p>The Daniel Pienaar <em><strong>Tigers<\/strong> <\/em>were forced to come from behind against Despatch to force a draw.<\/p>\n<p>Down 11-18, with time running out, they closed the gap to two points with their second try of the match. <strong>Corbelle Claasen<\/strong> then stepped up to the tee and slotted the conversion, making it 18-18, with the final whistle sounding shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n<p>In other games, <strong>Kingswood<\/strong> had too much firepower for <strong>Port Rex<\/strong>, charging to a 66-7 win, while <strong>Brandwag<\/strong> set up a 31-10 victory over <strong>Westering<\/strong> by dominating the first half to lead 26-0 at the break.<\/p>\n<p>Westering redeemed themselves in the second period with two tries, but the gap was too large to close.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Scorers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Grey High 42 (14) \u2013<\/strong> Tries: Sibonelo Stuurman (2), Zola Yeye, Micah Wessels, Jean Nel, Blake Parker. Conversions: Nathan Trytsman (6). <strong>St Andrew&#8217;s College 22 (7) \u2013<\/strong> Tries: Mark Ewing (2), Avu Bangazi, Josh van Zyl. Conversion: Will Stevens<\/p>\n<p><strong>Marlow Agricultural 25 (14) \u2013<\/strong> Tries: Logan van Vuuren, Marcus September, Sinqobile Siyengo. Penalties: Cole Hurter (2). Conversion: Hurter. <strong>Nico Malan 25 (8) \u2013<\/strong> Tries: Callie de Lange, Luciano Botha, Ruben van Dijk, Reagan Stone. Penalty: Leighton Lawrence. Conversion: Lawrence.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Daniel Pienaar 18 \u2013<\/strong> Tries: Cariston Mapoe, Zinzile Mtotywa. Penalties: Corbelle Claasen (2). Conversion: Claasen. <strong>Despatch:<\/strong> not available<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brandwag 31 (26) \u2013<\/strong> Tries: Franku Fouche, Hannes Klopper, Darren Gardener, Rezanio Petrus, Waymen Sinden. Conversions: Petrus (3). <strong>Westering 10 (0) \u2013<\/strong> not available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grey High produced a commanding performance up front to comfortably quell the challenge of St Andrew&#8217;s College, winning their clash 42-22 on Lower Field in Makhanda on Saturday. The visitors laid down a marker early on, with flank Sibonelo Stuurman crossing for his first try after only a couple of minutes. From there, they never [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":96549,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96547","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\/96547","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=96547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/96549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}