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The third match on the final day was a much-anticipated game between two Eastern Cape powerhouse teams, Selborne College and Hoerskool Framesby. 

The two evenly matched teams spent most of the first half playing in midfield, with defensive patterns preventing either side from getting near the try-line.

The first points came after 20 minutes when Warrick Day converted a penalty for Selborne to lead 3-0. 

Five minutes later, Selborne centre Mtunsa Maponsela broke through the defence to score under the crossbar, converted by Day, for Selborne to lead 10-0 at the break.

The second half livened up after coaches had had their say at halftime and it was Framesby prop Luhan Fourie who went over.  The reliable boot of Jaundre Liebenberg added the extra points to narrow the lead to three points.

Selborne’s Day converted his second penalty for Selborne to lead 13-7.  Framesby came close to scoring but Selborne’s defences held.

A clever kick through the advancing defence saw wing Lawula Bata touch down just ahead of the Framesby defence.  Day converted for the East Londoners to lead 20-7.  In the final move of the game, Fourie scored his second try for Framesby, well converted from the touchline by Liebenberg.

The game was won by Selborne 20-14 for their second festival win after their Saturday fixture against Glenwood was abandoned due to lightning.

Scorers:

Selborne: Tries Maponsela, Bata; Conversions Day (2); Penalties Day (2)

Framesby: Tries Fourie (2); Conversions Liebenberg (2)

Pretoria Boys High were looking for their third win at the festival when they came up against HTS Middelburg, hungry for their first win.

It was Middelburg who made the best of their chances to take a 19-8 lead at the break. Pretoria had a number of chances, but a mistake in the last move prevented more than one try from them.

Flank Jandre Kleyn opened the scoring with a try for HTS, and this was followed by Jaden Collaros converting a penalty. Impressive wing Quintino October then scored the first of his two tries, for Middelburg to go into a 12-3 lead.

Pretoria had some sustained pressure in the red zone with wing Bradley Mayekiso diving over to reduce the lead to 8-12. Pretoria Boys could rue the chances that they let slip and it was October, scoring his second try of the match, this time converted by Alec Vermaak, for HTS to lead 19-8 going into the break.

Some good handling led to HTS opening the scoring in the second half, when centre Christiaan Vlok scored, converted by Vermaak, to increase the lead to 26-8.

This seemed to wake up the Pretoria forwards and they were rewarded when centre Mikhail Edwards held on to the ball, broke through a tackle and ran 30m to score. Midway through the half, Edwards was again on hand to score his second try, this time converted by Justin Cross, to narrow the gap to 20-26. Two penalties converted by Vermaak increased the HTS lead to 32-20.

Boys High came back with Edwards scoring his hat-trick under the poles for an easy conversion by Cross to give them hope at 27-32. It was not to be; after another great game with plenty of movement ended with HTS Middelburg getting their first win of the festival in an exciting finish.

Scorers:

HTS Middelburg: Tries October (2), Vlok, Kleyn; Conversions Vermaak (3); Penalties Vermaak (2)
Pretoria Boys High: Tries Mayekiso, Edwards (3); Conversions Cross (2); Penalty Collaros

After heavy rain over the past 24 hours, damp overcast conditions met the players from Noord-Kaap and Dr EG Jansen when they ran out for today’s first game, but the Stott field was firm underfoot.  Both teams were looking for a second victory after they had each lost their first game and won their second.

EG Jansen was more effective when they kept the game tight, because Noord-Kaap backline always looked dangerous on attack, as long as their forwards gave them good ball.

The first try came 12 minutes into the game when Jansen set up a maul, rumbling 15m forward and their hooker Kyle Pepler went over, converted by Kyle Potgieter, for a 7-0 lead.  Noord-Kaap centre Keano Windvogel broke the defensive line, passing to his captain and fullback Elzandro Fredericks who scored out wide, narrowing the gap to 5-7.

EG Jansen again did what they do best, another maul, another try, again by hooker Pepler, and again converted by Potgieter, to increase the lead to 14-5.

Noord-Kaap hit back, moving the ball amongst the backs.  Wing Jacquin van Wyk sliced through the defence to score, thereby reducing the deficit to 12-14, after a successful conversion by Corne du Plessis.

Just before half-time, there was another break, ending with wing Moemagare Molete scoring in the corner for Noord-Kaap to lead at the break.

The second half was only minutes old when Molete scored his second try to take the lead to 24-14 with the conversion by Du Plessis.

EG Jansen replacement flyhalf Keagan Balfour broke the defence to score, converted by Potgieter, to make it a three-point game 21-24 for the final 10 minutes.

In the final seconds, EG Jansen looked as though they may have won, but the ball was dropped on the line by their wing, giving Noord-Kaap the victory in a highly entertaining game.

Scorers:

Hoerskool Noord-Kaap: Tries Fredericks, Van Wyk, Molete (2); Conversions Du Plessis (2)

Dr EG Jansen: Tries Pepler (2), Balfour; Conversions Potgieter (3)

Grey College of Bloemfontein started the 2019 season where they’ve finished the 2018 season on top of School of Rugby’s Rankings. The team from the City of Roses  

Paul Roos Gimnasium is not placed on our first rankings for 2019 as they’ve only played two matches so far that we take into consideration while calculating the rankings. This also the case for the exclusion of Diocesan College (Bishops) and King Edward VII. 

The team from Stellenbosch won’t make an appearance on School of Rugby’s Rankings for a couple of weeks as they will attend the Sanix International-tournament in Japan and therefore won’t attend this year’s Wildeklawer Festival in Kimberley.  

Please note that we don’t take matches against international opposition into consideration in our rankings. These games will however still be recorded and shown in our results.

This rankings is not an official ranking as there is no official ranking on schoolboy level and this is only to get the discussion on school rugby on South Africa flowing. We however take our responsibility on reporting school rugby very seriously. 

To see each team’s results so far this season click on their name in the rankings. If you see any results missing please don’t hesitate to contact Hannes Nienaber via e-mail on hannes@schooolofrugby.co.za – and please feel free to discuss and differ from us in the comments section.

The Rankings: 

Please note: 

• Grey College‘s victories against Christchurch Boys’ High (73-26) and Southland Boys’ High (54-0) during the World Schools Festival does not count towards the rankings and therefore doesn’t reflect in the statistics.  
• Paarl Gimnasium‘s victories over the Africa-Pacific Dragons (50-24) and Hartpury College (41-12) during the World Schools Festival does not count towards the rankings and therefore doesn’t reflect in the statistics.  
• Paarl Boys’ High‘s victories during the St John’s College Easter Festival against the Golden Lions XV (66-7) and Windhoek Gimnasium (64-0) does not count towards the rankings and therefore doesn’t reflect in the statistics. Their match against Hoërskool Nelspruit (40-0) during the festival was stopped early due to lightning. We regarded this as a result. 

Results

1	02/03/2019	Ben Vorster	33	Centurion	25		Match Info
2	16/03/2019	Ben Vorster	18	Nico Malan	15	Noord/Suid Derby	Match Info
3	18/03/2019	Ben Vorster	12	HTS Drostdy	26	Noord/Suid Derby	Match Info
4	20/03/2019	Ben Vorster	58	Strand	0	Noord/Suid Derby	Match Info
5	18/04/2019	Ben Vorster	49	Dale College	46	KES Easter Festival	Match Info
6	20/04/2019	Ben Vorster	43	Florida	13	KES Easter Festival	Match Info
–	22/04/2019	Ben Vorster	–	Hentie Cilliers	–	KES Easter Festival	Match Info
7	13/04/2019	Ben Vorster	30	Menlopark	44	Pretoria	Match Info
8	04/05/2019	Ben Vorster	42	Montana	43	Virsekerbeker	Match Info
9	11/05/2019	Ben Vorster	30	Eldoraigne	25	Virsekerbeker	Match Info
10	18/05/2019	Ben Vorster	31	Kempton Park	50	Virsekerbeker	Match Info
11	25/05/2019	Ben Vorster	30	Marais Viljoen	26	Virsekerbeker	Match Info
12	01/06/2019	Ben Vorster	35	Rustenburg	25		Match Info
13	20/07/2019	Ben Vorster	35	Nelspruit	33	Mbombela	Match Info
14	03/08/2019	Ben Vorster	95	Zwartkop	22		Match Info
15	10/08/2019	Ben Vorster	12	Rustenburg	8	Virsekerbeker Semi-Final	Match Info
16	17/08/2019	Ben Vorster	37	Eldoraigne	36	Virsekerbeker Final	Match Info

Players: Doran Kleynhans, Christiaan Smit, Renzo du Plessis, WC Kriel, Tiaan Meintjies, Sean Roulston, Gavin Rautenbach, Meyer Vorster, Matome Manyama, Zian van den Heever, Rickus Nel, Nathan van den Heever, Franco Broodryk, Lehann Marais, Dean Ballenyne, Lennard Joubert, Rickus Nel, Shaun Mulder, Nicky Grobler, Dehan van Vuuren, 

3 or more tries in a match: 

4 – Renzo du Plessis vs Strand

Articles on Ben Vorster: 

Vossies onttroon Eldos se Groen Drake as Virsekerbeker-kampioene
Vorster beklink sege vir Vossies oor die Rhinos met strafdoel
Vossies bo op puntelys na Montana die eerste keer gly
Vossies en Marais Viljoen beklink seges in die doodsnikke in Virsekerbeker

After a full day of running rugby and a darkening sky, two jerseys, both navy and yellow, making it difficult for the referee and spectators alike. EG Jansen did have a yellow stripe over the shoulders which helped slightly.

The visitors to KZN went into a 3-0 lead after five minutes when Kyle Potgieter converted a penalty. This was increased five minutes later when flank Jandre Odendaal showed pace and strength to dot down, but the conversion was inside, leaving EG Jansen 8-0 up.

With DHS defending and EG running with the ball, an intercept by Brian Dosemba led to an 80m dash to score under the poles, which Shakir la Douce converted, bringing the score to 7-8 which remained until the halftime whistle.

Early in the second half, a mistake by the DHS defence saw a pop kick land in the hands of Odendaal who strolled over for his second try, converted by Potgieter, for a 15-7 lead.

EG Jansen eighth-man Franco Enslin beat the defence to score and increase their lead to 20-7.

With DHS’ heads beginning to sag, prop Brandon Pienaar forced his way over, this time converted by Jason Edward, for the Boksburg boys to lead 27-7.

DHS responded when centre Macneil Jenner scored after a move down the left flank to increase their score to 12.

EG Jansen was not finished though, and flyhalf Leshley October dotted down to increase their lead to 32-12. With time up on the clock, Duane Bloem scored the final try, converted by Edwards, for a 39-12 win.

Scorers: 

EG Jansen: Tries Odendaal (2), Enslin, Pienaar, October, Bloem; Conversions Potgieter, Edwards (2); Penalty Potgieter
DHS: Tries Dosember, Jenner; Conversion La Douce

Prince Edward (7) 28; Parktown Boys High (14) 19.

Zimbabwe’s traditionally strongest state sporting school made a determined recovery from the shock of Thursday’s 48-11 thumping by their hosts – when the intensity and focus of a higher league in SA left the visitors playing catch up.

It didn’t look promising for the team from Harare when they trailed 7-14 at the break, with locals Parktown Boys High shading the forward contest.

Prince Edward has a reputation for effort until the end and the second 50% of their Saints Festival campaign, saw them move beyond stage fright for a free-running 30 minutes in which their side-stepping in particular, sparked a trio of extra tries. That includes the brace of crossing the line in the last eight minutes, as a tribute to fitness and spirit.

Parktown will be very disappointed at fading in the second half, with their rounding off of attacks and cover defence requiring attention before taking on the Eastern Cape’s St Andrew’s College on Monday. Prince Edward will be sorely tested by SACS of Cape Town in their concluder.

Rondebosch Boys High (6) 18; Grey High School (3) 17.

These schools, albeit 800km apart, are well acquainted via regular opposition at the bi-annual Cape Schools Festival. With both schools fielding strong senior age-groups, it was a Test match from the outset – much of the first half was giving no quarter between the 22-metre lines. Grey closed the first quarter with the opening penalty, to which the Capetonians soon responded. Crucially, Rondebosch slotted their next three-pointer on the stroke of half time.

It seemed that the Port Elizabeth school might break the shackles when they broke out of their won half along the right wing for a long distance try to take a 10-6 lead. Rondebosch had consistently applied much intensity close to the fringes and duly burst over for a 15th minute try near the poles, to regain the lead 13-10.

Grey’s backline had been ‘champing at the bit’ and the 23rd minute brought them their second long-distance try and the lead again: 17-13. This thriller final stanza was four minutes later, when Rondebosch crossed in the left-hand corner, but couldn’t convert to increase their slender single point margin. So often, a last minute penalty concludes such ‘slugfests’, but not this time!

For Grey it was a comedown after thrashing Michaelhouse 43-7, however Rondebosch added to their tight 17-10 defeat of St Andrew’s for a fifth successive Saints Festival victory; to which list Northcliff High should be added on Monday.

Maritzburg College (24) 38; Kingswood College (7) 7.

For decades the Sharks have battled to find top-level homegrown Zulu talent, so it was encouraging to note such raw talent on display in the famous red, black and white hooped Maritzburg jerseys.

Before five minutes were up, their Grahamstown opponents had burst through from broken play to score at the poles to be up 7-0. The gutsy Eastern Cape team’s joy was short lived however, as the KwaZulu-Natalians crossed the tryline out wide to trail 5-7 after eight minutes.

The contest was still competitive for another quarter of an hour, however Maritzburg were increasingly clinical and building momentum via thumping commitment. Eventually the pressure told and a second try after 24 minutes left matters at 10-7, but there was another for two minutes later for Maritzburg to lead 17-7. The ‘writing was on the wall’ as much as in Biblical Babylon, when the KZN outfit finished with speed in the left-hand corner for a 24-7 lead at the break.

It is to Kingswood’s credit that they never ‘threw in the towel’ and their solid defence kept the score down while Maritzburg never slacked off with the physical intensity, yet was only able to add further tries in the 2nd and 25th minutes respectively.

St Andrew’s College 28 (14); Michaelhouse 19 (7)

Somewhat against the run of play, Michaelhouse opened the scoring in the 2nd minute with a breakaway try into the left-hand corner to be 7-0 up.

St Andrew’s were more eager to attack via their backline and six minutes later crossed for their opening try to level matters at 7-all. That try was in the right-hand corner and the sizeable crowd watched a second successive superb conversion from out wide.

Play flowed at a solid tempo from then on, with the heavier KZN Midlands outfit attacking closer to the fringes, while their leaner-physique opponents from Grahamstown focussed their running out wide. Eventually, a superb midfield break from St Andrew’s was well supported off the inside shoulder to get a second try for a 14-7 lead, which held at the break.

A low-scoring first half between HTS Drostdy and Welkom Gim saw the boys from Worcester 9-5 in the lead after three penalties by Carlton Pietersen.  It was a try by hooker Martley Bayman that gave Welkom their points.

The second half began with a second try by Bayman, his third of the festival, to put Welkom in front again.  Wing Angelo Olivier showed good pace in rounding the cover defence to score again for Welkom, this time converted by fullback Marchall Andrews, to increase the lead to 17-9.

Drostdy came right back when centre Zach le Roux got over in the corner, converted by Pietersen, to narrow the deficit to one point 16-17.

Welkom managed to move the ball rapidly to the left, finding fullback Andrews and he beat the defence to score in the corner.  Flank Macneil Matthews took over the kicking duties from Andrews and showed good skill converting from the touchline, giving his team a cushion and a 24-16 lead.

With three minutes remaining, Welkom centre Keith van Aswegen beat the defenders with good pace to increase the lead to 29-16.  A final penalty by Andrews completed a 32-16 win by Welkom.

Scorers:

Drostdy: Try Le Roux; Conversion Pietersen; Penalties Pietersen (3)

Welkom: Tries Andrews, Van Aswegen, Olivier, Bayman (2); Conversion Andrews; Penalties Andrews, Matthews

The third match of the day saw hosts Kearsney College taking on Hoërskool Framesby, a well-conditioned unit from Port Elizabeth.

Framesby opened the score with a try by eighth-man Ruan Claassen, converted by Juandre Liebenberg, for a 7-point lead after two minutes.

Kearsney came back with a try from a penalty close to the try-line, when fullback Derick Marshall burst over and, with the successful conversion by Cade Carmichael, the scores were level 7-7.

With Framesby winning the lion’s share of the ball, two further tries were scored, the first by flank Christo Grobler and the second by fullback Sebastian Brandt. This time Liebenberg converted to give Framesby a 19-7 lead, which they held until the break.

Early in the second half hooker William Moffat ran 30m after forwards had dominated, to score under the uprights. Liebenberg converted once again for Framesby to lead 26-7.

With 10 minutes remaining Kearsney fullback Marshall broke through a number of tackles and, from a subsequent ruck, the ball went to centre Luke Wilson who sniped through, scoring under the crossbar. Jordan Bamber converted and Kearsney had narrowed the gap to 14-26.

In an entertaining finish Kearsney kept the pressure on Framesby and centre Connor de Bruyn scored, converted by Bamber, to bring their points to 21-26.

Scorers:

Framesby: Tries Brandt, Claassen, Grobler, Moffat; Conversions Liebenberg (3)
Kearsney: Tries Wilson, Marshall, De Bruyn; Conversions Carmichael, Bamber (2)

In contrast to the earlier game, the second game of Day 2 between Hoerskool Transvalia and Pretoria Boys High saw few points in the first half. At the break, it was Transvalia leading 5-3.

Pretoria was the first to score with a penalty by Jaden Collaros. Transvalia’s scrumhalf Dewald Stoop used some neat footwork to get over for a try, but the conversion was just wide, giving them the 5-3 lead. Both teams came close to scoring again but mistakes in the final pass prevented any further points.

The scores were levelled midway through the second half when wing Dian de Villiers picked up a difficult pass to dive over. With just 10 minutes remaining, prop Wandile Madodonke barged over from a lineout and again the conversion was wide, but Pretoria Boys led 15-10.

Boys High sealed the game when Collaros went over under the poles as he added the extra points to lead 22-10 with minutes remaining.

In the final move of the game after concerted pressure in the red zone, Transvalia’s prop Willem Coertzen barged over, converted by fullback Lee-Andrew du Preez, to bring Transvalia to within five points of Boys High.

The second half was more entertaining but Boys High used their chances better for the 22-17 win.

Scorers: 

Pretoria Boys: Tries Caldwell, Madodonke, Collaros; Conversions Collaros (2); Penalty Van Rooyen
Transvalia: Tries Stoop, De Villiers, Coertzen; Conversions Du Preez (2)