Graeme College marches on, big wins for St Andrew’s College and Pearson

Graeme College continued their imperious march on the winning trail, comfortably disposing of Hudson Park High 54-19 in their clash on the Somerset Field in Makhanda on Saturday.

The visitors caused a ripple among the home supporters when they were the first to cross the line with a fine try in the third minute by wing Cwenga Bityo, which he converted to lead 7-0.

But it wasn’t long before Graeme got their mojo going by way of a penalty try. Although much of the first half was evenly contested, the home side eventually broke it open with about 10 minutes of the period remaining.

Typically, it was centre and captain Erin Nelson who first tore through the Hudson defence before offloading to fullback Lucritia Magau to cross for the first of his two tries.

That was the catalyst for a burst of scoring, with the Graeme backs showing their willingness to attack, even from deep in their own half. That stretched the Hudson defence to its limits, and resulted in tries by Iviwe Mshubeki, Magau and Ibenathi Kondile as the home side surged into a halftime lead of 35-7.

Hudson hit back after the break with their second try, by substitute Ava Nguza, but they could make little inroads into the big margin Graeme had created.

The home side continued to push hard, and further tries by Selunathi Mfundisi, Nelson and big prop Olo Jaca sealed the deal before one final score from Hudson.

There was a similar scoreline between Pearson High and Muir College in their clash in Gqeberha, although the visitors were still very much in the game at the break, trailing only 10-17.

They scored one more try in the second half, but Pearson cut loose, with Kadin Kretzmann, Keano Beling, and Nathan Heyns each scoring a brace of tries to propel them to a 55-17 victory.

St Andrew’s College was also dominant in the second half of their showdown with Cambridge High in KuGompo City.

The visitors led 26-12 at the break but piled on the pressure in the second half to romp to a 73-19 triumph, building further confidence after their first win of the season against Marlow the previous weekend.

Scorers

Graeme College 35 (54) – Tries: Lucritia Magau (2), Erin Nelson, Ibenathi Kondile, Selunathi Mfundisi, Olo Jaca, Iviwe Mshubeki, penalty try. Conversions: Nelson (6). Hudson Park High 19 (7) – not available.

Pearson High 55 (17) – Tries: Kadin Kretzmann (2), Keano Beling (2), Sebastian Playdon, Nathan Heyns (2), Tyler Breda, Dewald Niemand. Conversions: Beling (5). Muir College 17 (10) – not available.

St Andrew’s College 73 (26) – Tries: Sivatho Mjali (2), David Chorley, Will Stevens, Avu Bangazi, Alex Stewart, Stuart Stern, Qhawe Madikizela (2), James Badenhorst, Ross Faber. Conversions: Stevens (7), Chorley (2). Cambridge High 19 (12) – not available.