Hilton handles Pretoria Boys High at home
Hilton College hosted Pretoria Boys High on Gilfillan Field on Saturday, seeking to follow up a 25-20 win over Michaelhouse with another quality victory.
With the leaves of the trees that overlooked the fields turning from green to brown and all shades between, it was an ideal day for rugby in a beautiful setting.
From the opening kick-off, Hilton immediately forced their way into the visitors’ half and began to play the game where they wanted to play it.
After exerting pressure for a while, a quick tap from Zander Muller was halted close to the try line. But Hilton quickly went the other way, to the blind side, with scrumhalf Zander Vorster feeding flyhalf Liyema Nela, who, cleverly, slipped a pass back inside and lock André Boschoff was in space and over for a try.
A high tackle gave the home team another opportunity to kick themselves deep into the Candies‘ territory, with a lineout to come. But the referee, Danie Joubert, played an excellent advantage, and a sweetly judged chip out wide from centre Tristan Uys sat up invitingly for left-wing Ricky Adonis. He didn’t need a second invitation. He grabbed the ball out of the air, rounded the PBHS defence and was in under the poles.
Nela made the easy conversion and Hilton led 12-0 after 15 minutes.
Boys High did themselves no favours when they conceded a penalty, which allowed Hilton to kick into the 22 and keep applying the pressure on the visitors, who had barely staged an incursion into the hosts’ half.
Eventually, from a quick tap, it took only two phases for Josh Grant to power over for the home team’s third try. Nela added the extras, and Hilton was cruising at 19-0, scoring at just shy of a point a minute.
If they were to have any chance of victory, Pretoria Boys High desperately needed to score next. They did.
From a lineout, about 30 metres out, the visitors’ Banele Mashaba shed a tackle in midfield and burst towards the Hilton try line. After a thrilling run, he was stopped with the whitewash almost within arms’ reach, but the ball went wide quickly and their tall lock, Pieter Lindeboom, was over in the right-hand corner.
Unfortunately for Boys High, the ball toppled off the tee as Blake Mager was attempting the conversion, forcing him to take a hurried drop kick, and they were unable to add two more points.
The visitors, though, were the next to strike, too. Beginning from a lineout in a similar position to the previous one which had produced a try, the Candies set up a maul. When it splintered, they entered Hilton’s 22. Phase after phase, they kept possession and probed, shifting the ball left, right, then left again.
With a keen eye for a gap, scrumhalf Michael Fourie sniped around the right of a ruck, cut back left, and, when he was tackled, one-handed a pass out wide to centre Tyler Mason and he dived over in the corner for a try.
It was 19-10 at the break. Hilton had been cruising, but Pretoria Boys High’s late first-half fightback had made a game of it.
Brad Macleod-Henderson‘s charges snatched back the momentum from the visitors within five minutes of the restart.
From a scrum wide on the left, around the 22, Hilton captain Liyema Nela received the pass from Zander Vorster. Inside centre Tristan Uys cut inside, drawing the attention of the defence, and left-wing Ricky Adonis drifted into a gap between two defenders to rip through the Boys High defence. It was a textbook training ground move, and he was over under the uprights. Nela’s successful conversion made it 26-10.
An excellent chase from Nela, then, forced the visitors to dot down behind their own try line, giving Hilton an inviting five-metre scrum right in front of the posts. A simple pick up and drive for the line brought Zander Muller another five-pointer and Nela turned it into a seven-point play to extend the hosts’ advantage to 23 points.
PBHS struck back in the 53rd minute. After a clean take at the back of a five-metre lineout, they mauled towards the try line, breaking open Hilton’s defences. When the hosts illegally dragged the maul to ground, the referee signalled a penalty try.
He had warned the home team twice previously. Not only did they surrender seven points, but they were reduced to 14 men, with a yellow card being shown.
Even though they were a man down, it was Hilton who scored next. They’re well organised and patient when the try line is nearby. They keep it tight, mostly, and advance metre by metre. This time, though, they sent the ball wide to Ricky Adonis and he nudged a grubber into the left-hand corner, won the race to it, and was over for his hat-trick.
Pretoria Boys High had the final say, with some sharp handling and a blind side attack bringing Callum Nel a try in the corner, despite a valiant attempt from Guy Fender to prevent him from dotting down.
Blake Mager nailed the kick from the touchline to make it 38-24.
SCORES
Hilton College 38 (19) – Tries: Ricky Adonis (3), André Boschoff, Josh Grant, Zander Muller. Conversions: Liyema Nela (4); Pretoria Boys High 24 (10) – Tries: Pieter Lindeboom, Tyler Mason, penalty try, Callum Nel. Conversion: Blake Mager.
RESULTS
u19 – Hilton College I 38 Pretoria Boys High I 24; Hilton College II 45 Pretoria Boys High II 0; Hilton College III 27 Pretoria Boys High III 7; Hilton College IV 22 Pretoria Boys High IV 7; Hilton College V 7 Pretoria Boys High V 26; Hilton College VI 7 Pretoria Boys High VI 24; Hilton College VII 19 Pretoria Boys High VII 15; Hilton College VIII 34 Pretoria Boys High VIII 21
u16 – Hilton College A 10 Pretoria Boys High A 33; Hilton College B 17 Pretoria Boys High B 12; Hilton College C 14 Pretoria Boys High C 12; Hilton College D 0 Pretoria Boys High D 60
u15 – Hilton College A 23 Pretoria Boys High A 24; Hilton College B 7 Pretoria Boys High B 45; Hilton College C 7 Pretoria Boys High C 24; Hilton College D 7 Pretoria Boys High D 44
u14 – Hilton College A 22 Pretoria Boys High A 34; Hilton College B 0 Pretoria Boys High B 38; Hilton College C 0 Pretoria Boys High C 64
