MATCH 6
KEARSNEY COLLEGE 3 – EG JANSEN 25
Kearsney found themselves on the back foot right from kick-off, as EG Jansen’s pace and physicality put their defence under pressure. With only 21 minutes gone, EG Jansen were three tries to nil ahead, tallying the score up to 15 – 0. Just before half time, Forrest Roos slotted a penalty and the half time score was 18 – 0 to the boys from the East Rand.
At the start of the second half, Kearsney showed great defence and held their counter parts ransom and were unfortunate not to capitalize and score. A penalty by scrum half James Hall finally put the home team on the score board.
But EG Jansen scored once again, using their pace and through great team support, courtesy of Rouxbann Bauman and Forrest Roos converting.
Point Scorers
Kearsney College: Conversion Hall
EG Jansen: Tries Van Wyk 2, Cronje, Baumann; Conversion Roos; Penalty Roos
MATCH 5
GREY COLLEGE 10 – 10 MONUMENT
The team from Bloemfontein were on the score board with only nine minutes from the start, scoring two tries, one by prop Ruben Terblanche and the other by full back Henry Immelman.
Monument re-grouped and slowly found themselves gaining possession and almost scored twice. ‘Monnas’ had territorial advantage and impressed with good forward dominance. A knock-on by Monument relieved the pressure and Grey was able to consolidate.
With great attacking play from Grey College’s loose trio, with just five minutes to the end of the half, Grey came very close to scoring again. The half time score was 10 – 0.
The second half was all Grey College, with Monument fending off attack after attack. It was only when the Grey no 15 Henry Immelman missed a penalty that Monument was able to re-group. An excellent intercept try by flyhalf Ivan Smit from Monument, and a quick conversion by Wikus van Biljon, put ‘Monnas’ right back into the game. Another penalty by Van Biljon made the scores level at 10 – 10.
All credit must go to both teams for enthralling the crowd until the very end and for a game played in excellent, typical school boy spirit, and which was officiated by Rugby World Cup ref Craig Joubert.
Point scorers:
Grey College: Tries Terblanche, Immelman
Monument: Tries Smit; Conversion Van Biljon; Penalty Van Biljon
GAME 4
AFFIES 10 – HTS MIDDELBURG 20
The physicality of this tough encounter was confirmed in the first five minutes with two great sides taking on each other. It was the team from HTS Middelburg who dominated possession until relief came for Affies.
With great line-out play, Affies ran the ball down the line, only to lose it again. HTS Middelburg found themselves on the attack once again, having most of the possession. It was an up and under from Affies which put them on the attack and close to their try line with only nine minutes to go in the first half. Unfortunately a knock-on gave HTS a scrum, after which Affies secured possession once again.
Great defensive play by the red team resulted in Affies missing an opportunity to put points on the board. Affies were eventually rewarded with a penalty by Pieter Coetser, to make the score 3 – 0 to Affies. It was a minute later that centre Ryno Lourens broke through to score the first try of the match. Pieter Coetser converted and the score was 10 – 0 to Affies at half time.
HTS Middelburg opened the scoring in the second half courtesy of winger Jan Rens with a great run-away try. With an unsuccessful conversion the score changed to 10 – 5.
It was once again the HTS attack which put Affies on the defence, and another try by Chrisjan Steynberg for the ‘Reds ’ levelled the scores with an unconverted try. With HTS Middelburg camping in their half, they were able to score again, taking a 17 – 10 lead with the try scorer Driaan Bester and Barend Smit converting.
A penalty in the last minute by Barend Smit sealed the victory for HTS Middelburg, deservedly so. A disappointed Affies team leave the festival with two losses.
Point Scorers:
Affies: Try Lourens; Conversion Coetser; Penalty Coetser
HTS Middelburg: Tries Rens, Steynberg, Bester; Conversion Smit; Penalty Smit
GAME 3
WESTVILLE 14 – SELBORNE 20
After Westville’s great performance against Grey College on Saturday, they continued to impress with good, basic rugby and were the first to score a try using the pace of Lindo Buthelezi. After a successful conversion by captain Kyan Braithwaite, Westville took the lead by 7 points to 0.
In the 16th minute, Selborne levelled the scores with centre David Brits scoring a try and Morgan Steyn converting. A penalty by Steyn put Selborne in front with 10 points to 7. This was also the half time score.
In the first few minutes of the second half, it was Westville who came out firing and they soon found themselves attacking their try line. Renier Pieterse went over for a well-worked try and Braithwaite converted to score the first points of the second half, putting Westville in front by 4 points.
It was Selborne’s turn to dominate possession and with good line-out play they soon found themselves on the attack. Grant Venter and Milani Lubelwana scored for Selborne within two minutes of one another, putting them six points ahead with just one minute to go.
When the final whistle blew, it was Westville who found themselves on the attack, but too little too late left the end score at 20 – 14 to Selborne who were the deserved victors. Selborne returns home having won two of their three festival games.
Point Scorers:
Westville: Tries Buthelezi, Pieterse; Conversions Braithwaite 2
Selborne College: Tries Brits, Venter, Lubelwana; Conversion Steyn; Penalty Steyn
GAME 2
GLENWOOD 31 – HOERSKOOL FRAMESBY 29
Glenwood has had a great festival, notching up two excellent wins – over Dale on Thursday and over EG Jansen on Saturday. Framesby, whilst performing better than in last year’s festival, have lost both of their matches – to Monument on Thursday and to Selborne College on Saturday.
It was Framesby who opened the scoring with no 14 Rikus Zaayman dotting over in the corner for the first try of the match. The Glenwood defence was once again tested when their opposition scored their second try, resulting from good, solid attacking play. The try-scorer was prop Roché van Zyl and Tiaan Stander slotted the conversion, taking the score to 12 – 0 in Framesby’s favour.
It was all Framesby once again and this time Tiaan Stander visited the try line but unfortunately missed the conversion. With nine minutes to go in the first half, Glenwood missed a penalty and, through sustained pressure, forced another mistake. This time, the Glenwood full back made no error and put three points on the board for the ‘Green Team’.
Just before the half time whistle blew, Glenwood scored their first try of the match, with excellent running rugby, courtesy of centre Sphandla Ngcobo. Morné Joubert converted to take the half time score to 17 – 10.
The physical battle continued and Glenwood were on the attack from kick-off. There was a penalty to Framesby, right on the Glenwood try line, which brought relief for the ‘blue and reds’. But it was Glenwood who again turned on the pressure, and a runaway try instigated by a great off load from no 7 McMillan Muller to full back Morné Joubert, brought the scores level; with Joubert converting his own try.
From there on both teams scored at regular intervals, making it a nail-biting game with only 10 minutes to go. It proved to be one of the festival’s most exciting games of rugby, and had a vociferous crowd on the edges of their seats.
Point Scorers:
Glenwood: Tries Sphandla Ngcobo, Joubert, Morgan, Van Niekerk; Conversions Joubert 4; Penalty Joubert
Framesby: Tries Zaayman, Van Zyl, Stander, Nieuwoudt, Ndawo; Conversions Stander 2
GAME 1
NICO MALAN 10 – DALE COLLEGE 25
Kicking off the day’s play, Nico Malan from Humansdorp took on Dale College from King William’s Town, with both teams having something to prove after losing both their first and second day fixtures. Nico Malan has struggled at the festival this year having lost both their matches – to Westville on Thursday and to HTS Middleburg on Saturday. Dale, in spite of their usual flair for unpredictable rugby, has also lost both matches – to Glenwood on Thursday and to Kearsney on Saturday.
The team from the Eastern Cape kicked off and put pressure on Nico Malan from the start.
The first points of the match came through great running play by Dale College hooker Bubele Gongqu who scored under the poles, converted by Justerino Davids, to open the score at 7-0 in Dale’s favour.
Nico Malan recovered quickly and with good, steady phase play and consistent pressure on the Dale defence line, they were rewarded with a try by eighth man Dean van der Westhuizen to take the score to 7 – 5 to Dale.
After some scrappy play Davids slotted a penalty in the 17th minute (10-5) and within minutes Nico Malan number 9 Dian Hartzenberg broke through the Dale defence to dot down, bringing the score to 10-10.
In the 21st minute Bulele Gongqo notched up his second try of the day, once again converted by Justerino Davids to round off the scores at half time at 17-10 to Dale College.
The second half saw Dale exert consistent pressure from the re-start and they were unlucky not to score in the 44th minute when number 14 Luzuko Mase dropped the ball on the Nico Malan try line. But this was the theme of the half as both teams were guilty of far too many handling errors and scrappy play.
It looked like the second half would see no points added until in the 57th minute when Nico Malan handed Dale a penalty and Justerino Davids successfully converted to make the score 20-10. The renewed energy unleased a spate of running rugby and Davids crossed the line in the dying moments of the game to bring the final score to 25-10 to Dale College.
Point Scorers
Nico Malan: Tries Van der Westhuizen, Hartzenberg
Dale College: Tries Gongqu 2, Davids; Conversions Davids 2; Penalties Davids 2
Klein Nederburg recorded their first victory of the St. John’s College Easter Festival with a 46-17 victory over St. John’s College of Harare. The team from Zimbabwe lead 17-12 at the break, but like with all the other games Klein Nederburg proved that they will never give up until the final whistle. 
AFFIES 14 – MONUMENT 36
Waterkloof defeated their second traditional powerhouse rugby school this year when they defeated Paul Roos Gimnasium 19-13 on the second day of the St. John’s College Easter Festival in Johannesburg. Klofies lead 16-3 at the break. The team from Pretoria defeated Affies 35-21 just before the Easter Festivals.