Grey High outclass Northwood in Festival clash
The host school completed an entertaining opening day of the Standard Bank Grey High Rugby Festival when they outclassed Northwood 43-12 in the final match of the programme in Port Elizabeth on Thursday.
Playing into a stiff breeze, Grey established their dominance with some thrilling tries in the first half to take a 21-5 lead into the break. With the conditions in their favour, they kept a sizeable gap between themselves and their Durban opponents to run out comfortable winners.
Northwood gave a committed effort throughout the match, but could not hold the slick handling of the Grey backs, who often created enough of a gap to slip through for seven tries in total. These came from Liyema Matyolweni, Kai van Kampen, Nathan Doster, Litha Adam, Larkquin Goliath, Siviwe Zondani and Jared Kirsten.
Their opponents seized on any errors to score a try in each half through Keane Fourie and Ntokozo Makaya, but they could not stem the flow of attacks from the Grey outfit.
In a thrilling main curtain-raiser, Jeppe snatched victory from Selborne with the final move of the game in a 19-15 result.
The match was a humdinger between two strong sides and Selborne were well-placed at 15-5 before Jeppe, with the wind at their backs, mounted a rearguard action.
They narrowed the gap with a converted try and then camped in the Selborne 22-metre area in the closing stages. They showed great patience on attack and eventually forced their way over next to the posts for the winning score.
Selborne’s tries came from Sibusiso Javu (2) and Warrick Day, while Jeppe replied through Lifa Jambani (2) and Ashley Cloete, with the two conversions making the difference.
Queen’s and St Stithians became involved in a titanic battle, with the score fluctuating from one side to the other.
After conceding an early try and a penalty, St Stithians accelerated past their opponents with four quick tries to move 24-10 ahead.
Queen’s reduced the gap with a second try before halftime and then used the wind to great effect in the second half. As their opponents failed to deal with the high ball, Queen’s unleashed their running game for a further five tries to end up convincing 46-24 winners.
Framesby also took the first half to find their feet in their clash with Durban High School, trailing 10-0 at the break after a try (by Shakur la Douce) and a penalty.
However, once Ruan du Preez crossed for their first try early in the second half, the Port Elizabeth team went on the rampage to surge to a 54-10 win. They ran DHS ragged and further tries came from Jemaine George, Sebastian Brandt, William Moffet, Divan van Wyk, Ruan Claassen and Ruben du Preez.
The other close result came in the second match of the day when St Alban’s held on for a 10-7 win against Graeme.
A highlight of the opening game was a superb solo effort by Hudson Park wing Bulelani Ngaki, who took the ball from the kick-off and ran through the St Benedict’s side to help his team win 24-14.
The first team results were:
Hudson Park 24 St Benedict’s 14
St Alban’s College 10 Graeme College 7
Framesby 54 DHS 10
St Andrew’s College 31 St John’s College 0
Queen’s College 46 St Stithians College 24
Selborne College 15 Jeppe Boys 19
Grey High 43 Northwood Boys 12
Woodridge 7 St David’s Marist Inanda 24
Stirling High 5 Marlow 24
Ithembelihle 22 Grey High Unicorns 24
Dale College 33 Muir College 3
Kingswood College 50 Parktown Boys 12
Saturday’s first team fixtures are:
Philip field: 08:00 Queen’s College v St David’s Marist Inanda; 09:10 Stirling v St Stithians; 10:20 Parktown v Dale; 11:40 Kingswood v St John’s; 12:50 Jeppe v St Andrew’s; 14:00 Selborne v Northwood; 15:20 Grey High v DHS
Pollock Oval: 08:00 St Alban’s v Muir; 09:10 Brandwag v St Benedict’s; 10:20 Graeme v Marlow; 12:50 Grey High Unicorns v Andrew Rabie; 14:00 Hudson Park v Framesby; 15:20 Woodridge v Ithembelihle
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