Eldos fight back to take down Ben Vorster at KES
Hoërskool Eldoraigne came from behind to score a narrow 17-12 win over Ben Vorster on the first day of the Standard Bank King Edward VII Easter Festival on Saturday.
The last time the two sides met was in 2019, when they did battle in the “Virseker Beker” final. The boys from Tzaneen were victorious by 37-36 on that occasion, but the Eldos turned the tables this time.
Ben Vorster opened the scoring through their lightning-quick winger Damian Bye, before scrumhalf Darren Bruwer replied to open Eldoraigne’s account.
The big flanker from Tzaneen, Chifu Banda, drove over for Ben Vorster’s second try to put them in front at the break, but Eldoraigne didn’t allow them over the try line in the second half.
Scrumhalf Bruwer was involved everywhere on the field for Eldoraigne and, after scoring the first try, he also played a hand in getting into his side into position for Jayden Niehaus and Victor Koopmans to go over and earn Eldoraigne a hard-fought victory.
Northwood produced a dominant and complete performance against Brandwag to open their campaign with a convincing win.
Despite some of the big boys from Brandwag, like Jano Gerber, flattening a few of the Northwood attackers with huge tackles, the KZN boys stuck to their structures to run up 50 unanswered points.
Northwood’s hooker Werner van Niewenhuizen stormed over for a brace of tries, while flyhalf Ramutuku Sikhakhane contributed 20 points with two tries and five conversions.
The battle between Hudson Park and Parktown Boys’ High was poised on a knife’s edge for most of the contest. It took 44 minutes before Kelvin Kotey scored the first points at this year’s festival with a penalty to give Parktown a narrow advantage going into the final quarter.
Hudson Park stuck to their structures, though, and were rewarded when their big prop, Limandla Sonjani, powered his way over for the first try.
Kotey responded with another well-struck penalty to edge his team ahead by one point, but a brilliant individual effort by Hudson’s lively inside centre, Jacqyl Wright, saw him dive over for the winning try with less than 10 minutes left on the clock.
Despite the low score, the opening match was a fascinating arm-wrestle.
Hudson Park’s industrious no. 8, Siyanthanda Klass, made his presence felt on defence, and scrumhalf, Landile Gidi, played a central role in directing their attack.
Northwood and Hudson Park square off on Monday in what promises to be an exciting matchup. Hudson’s first win came off the back of the work they did on defence, but they will need to be even more clinical to contain the boys from Durban, who showed they can pounce on any opportunity.
Scorers
Hoërskool Eldoraigne 17 (5) – Tries: Darren Bruwer, Jayden Niehaus, Victor Koopmans. Conversion: JP Meyer. Ben Vorster 12 (12) – Tries: Damian Bye, Chifu Banda. Conversion: Pontsho Selowa.
Northwood 50 (31) – Tries: Werner van Nieuwenhuizen (2), Ramutuku Sikhakhane (2), Graeham de Swardt, Bongane Khumalo, Kwenzo Dlamini, Siya Nkosi. Conversions: Sikhakhane (5). Brandwag 0.
Hudson Park 12 (0) – Tries: Limandla Sonjani, Jacqyl Wright. Conversion: D’Angelo Snayers. Parktown Boys’ High 6 (0) – Penalties: Kelvin Kotey (2).
