DAY 3| Cape sides to contest SAC Shield final in Makhanda
A new SAC Shield champion will be crowned in Makhanda on Sunday as two of Cape Town’s best, Bishops Diocesan College and South African College High School (SACS), battle it out for the tournament’s top honours in the St Andrew’s College pool.
They booked their spots in the showpiece after Bishops defeated Rondebosch 10-4 and SACS held off St John’s College 10-9 in their respective semi-finals on Saturday.
Bishops go into the final with the upper hand after a superb unbeaten run at the tournament. Coach Jabulani Sibiya’s side will take confidence from their impressive performances and their fight on day two especially, which saw them come from behind to win their pool matches against Selborne College and St Stithians College.
As for SACS, they began the showpiece on the back foot with a defeat against Bishops, but their comeback since then has been superb.
On day two, they were dominant, and they capped it off by beating Clifton College in the first match of day three, their last Pool A game, before overwhelming last year’s champions Paul Roos in the quarterfinals.
Coach Devon Card’s side then showed character in the semi-finals against an in-form St John’s team, as they, once again, came from behind to book themselves a spot in the title-decider.
The final will be the third meeting between SACS and Bishops within the span of a week. On Tuesday, Bishops convincingly thumped SACS in round one of the SACS Night series, beating them 11-5 after trailing them 1-4 at halftime. In Makhanda, they edged their Pool A clash 11-10.
The battle for silverware is set for 12:20 as both teams seek their first title of the season.
Meanwhile, the hosts, St Andrews College have had a tournament to forget and will contest the 11th/12th spot with Michaelhouse.
Paul Roos will be aiming to finish on a high in their 5th/6th play-off match against Selborne College, while an unlucky St John’s side will have third spot on their collective mind when they face Rondebosch Boys High at 11:20.
All the action will be live on SuperSport Schools.
Results: Day 3
SACS 10-6 Clifton College
Bishops 9-7 Grey High School
Selborne College 7 (5)-7(4) St Stithians College
Michaelhouse 8-5 Grey High School
St Stithians College 9-7 Michaelhouse
Hilton College 9-6 St Andrew’s College
Selborne College 8-6 Westville Boys’ High
Paul Roos 6-3 Clifton College
Quarterfinals
Bishops 8-2 Westville
SACS 13-7 Paul Roos
Rondebosch 8-3 Selborne College
St John’s College 9-7 Clifton College
Semi-finals
Bishops 10-4 Rondebosch Boys High
SACS 10-9 St John’s College
Day 4, Sunday, 28 January, @ St Andrew’s College
08:00 – (48) Michaelhouse vs St Andrew’s (11th/12th); 08:50 – (49) St Stithians vs Hilton 43 (9th/10th); 09:40 – (50) Westville vs Clifton College (7th/8th); 10:30 – (51) Selborne College vs Paul Roos (5th/6th); 11:20 – (52) Rondebosch Boys vs St John’s College (3rd/4th); 12:10 – Finalists line up; 12:20 – (53) SACS vs Bishops.
