Grey High pulls clear in second half to win at St Andrew’s College

Grey High produced a commanding performance up front to comfortably quell the challenge of St Andrew’s College, winning their clash 42-22 on Lower Field in Makhanda on Saturday.

The visitors laid down a marker early on, with flank Sibonelo Stuurman crossing for his first try after only a couple of minutes.

From there, they never relinquished their grip on the proceedings, despite the best efforts of St Andrew’s, well led by their skipper, Sivatho Mjali.

Not even two yellow cards at one stage derailed Grey’s march to victory, although St Andrew’s scored one of their four tries in that period to make sure the game was interestingly poised at 14-7 to Grey at halftime.

Hardworking prop Mark Ewing was the scorer of that try and, later in the second half, he repeated that determined effort, barging over for a second time.

That took the score to 21-12 – hooker Micah Wessels had crossed for Grey – but every time the home team put points on the board, Grey answered with a scoring riposte of their own.

This time it was big lock Jean Nel who crashed over as Grey showed patience with their constant driving from mauls close to the St Andrew’s try line. It was supremely relentless, and St Andrew’s found it difficult to counter.

The Andreans were always in the hunt, though, and tries by Avu Bangazi and Josh van Zyl kept their supporters interested. Grey High, though, was able to hit back regularly, and pressure from the maul saw Stuurman and Blake Parker add further tries to take the visitors out to a comfortable margin of victory.

Back at flyhalf after overcoming an injury, Nathan Trytsman assisted the Grey cause by slotting six conversions, while St Andrew’s star Will Stevens lacked his usual accuracy, kicking only one of four conversions and also missing a penalty.

In two remarkable finishes, Marlow Agricultural scored a try on the hooter to draw 25-25 with Nico Malan in Cradock, and Daniel Pienaar slotted a conversion kick with less than a minute remaining to share the honours with Despatch, 18-18.

Marlow dominated the early stages of their match against Nico Malan, running in tries by Marcus September and Logan van Vuuren within the first nine minutes to shoot out to a 14-0 lead.

After that, the match was in the balance as Nico Malan fought back. In fact, it was Marlow who needed to come from behind to claim a share of the spoils.

In response to conceding those early tries, Nico Malan hit back with a potent burst through the Marlow defence by flank Callie de Lange and a penalty from Leighton Lawrence, who left the Humansdorp school trailing 8-14 at the break.

In the second half, there was never much in it, but the visitors looked to have seized the initiative when lock Ruben van Dijk and wing Reagan Stone bounded over for late tries in the 64th and 67th minutes, turning a 15-20 deficit into a handy 25-20 lead.

Marlow, though, refused to throw in the towel. From a penalty close to the Nico Malan line, they set up a driving maul and eventually Sinqobile Siyengo powered his way over for the score-equalling try.

Then it was left to the conversion to win it for Marlow, but to the home team’s anguish, the effort slid wide of the posts, and the contest ended in a stalemate.

The Daniel Pienaar Tigers were forced to come from behind against Despatch to force a draw.

Down 11-18, with time running out, they closed the gap to two points with their second try of the match. Corbelle Claasen then stepped up to the tee and slotted the conversion, making it 18-18, with the final whistle sounding shortly afterwards.

In other games, Kingswood had too much firepower for Port Rex, charging to a 66-7 win, while Brandwag set up a 31-10 victory over Westering by dominating the first half to lead 26-0 at the break.

Westering redeemed themselves in the second period with two tries, but the gap was too large to close.

Scorers

Grey High 42 (14) – Tries: Sibonelo Stuurman (2), Zola Yeye, Micah Wessels, Jean Nel, Blake Parker. Conversions: Nathan Trytsman (6). St Andrew’s College 22 (7) – Tries: Mark Ewing (2), Avu Bangazi, Josh van Zyl. Conversion: Will Stevens

Marlow Agricultural 25 (14) – Tries: Logan van Vuuren, Marcus September, Sinqobile Siyengo. Penalties: Cole Hurter (2). Conversion: Hurter. Nico Malan 25 (8) – Tries: Callie de Lange, Luciano Botha, Ruben van Dijk, Reagan Stone. Penalty: Leighton Lawrence. Conversion: Lawrence.

Daniel Pienaar 18 – Tries: Cariston Mapoe, Zinzile Mtotywa. Penalties: Corbelle Claasen (2). Conversion: Claasen. Despatch: not available

Brandwag 31 (26) – Tries: Franku Fouche, Hannes Klopper, Darren Gardener, Rezanio Petrus, Waymen Sinden. Conversions: Petrus (3). Westering 10 (0) – not available.