Grey High Rugby Fest: SACS stages comeback, ‘House finishes strongly
Down 14-27, with seven minutes to play on the Kolisi Field at the Standard Bank Grey High Rugby Festival, SACS delivered a phenomenal three-try comeback to defeat Kearsney College 33-27 on Monday.
Kearsney produced some brilliant moments, with flyhalf Daniel Miskey putting eighthman Nhlanhla Ndlovu into space on several occasions, which left SACS trailing by 13 points at halftime, down 7-20.
A SACS victory was a blurry speck in the distance.
Kearsney continued their impressive playmaking in the second half, with outside centre Thomas Aylward testing the SACS back three with cheeky chips and grubbers.
The stubborn resilience of SACS turned the tide, however.
With only two minutes remaining, SACS worked their way into the Kearsney 22, going through phase after phase, offloading and driving ever closer to the KZN side’s try line. They refused to be taken to ground or to allow a ruck to form, and that paid off when their hooker and captain Zac Dall received an offload near the right corner, where he made the dive for five.
SACS will return to Cape Town with back-to-back wins in Gqeberha after also beating Selborne College 34-26.
After a 19-28 loss to Grey High on Saturday, Michaelhouse played with a raging intensity against St Andrew’s College on Monday.
As they did against Grey, Michaelhouse struck early, scoring within the first five minutes through their burly tighthead prop, Spelo Mfazwe. Just two metres from the St Andrew’s try line, he was the first receiver. There were defenders in his way, but his momentum took him over for the opening try of the contest.
The Makhanda locals struck back shortly after through left wing Qhawe Mdikizela, who finished in the corner after wriggling his way past two defenders.
At halftime, ‘House led 17-5.
The Balgowan boys were even more relentless in the second stanza, with their captain and eighthman Oliver Guy scoring the second of his two tries, followed by outside centre Fabiano Fierro, who powered through defenders and over the try line on two occasions.
St Andrew’s was unable to add a single point to their tally, and they struggled to make it into the Michaelhouse 22.
After a comfortable 41-5 win, ‘House will head back to KZN feeling substantially better than they felt after Saturday’s loss, in which Grey overturned a 15-19 deficit.
Like SACS, Kingswood College scored two wins in two matches at the festival, with their second coming on Monday via a 38-20 victory over St Stithians College, also on the Kolisi Field.
While the Lyme Park locals drew first blood with three points from flyhalf Matthew Anderson, the Makhanda outfit quickly got themselves into the game.
Inside centre Sam Dunne scored the first try of the match, and there was nothing subtle about it. He was the first receiver of a pass inside the opposition’s 22, and went route one, barging his way over the try line.
Anderson replied with two more penalties for Saints, who led 13-12 at the break.
While blindside flank Josh Mackenzie delivered a top-notch performance on Saturday for Kingswood, his brother, right wing James Mackenzie, delivered the goods on Monday, crossing for a brilliant hat-trick of tries.
His first two five-pointers were scored from chasing a cross-kick from scrumhalf Ryan O’Sullivan and a grubber from outside centre Luniko Marivate, respectively. His hat-trick try came when he broke off a maul formed 25 metres out and raced through to bolster Kingswood’s total.
Anderson delivered the contest’s last special moment. He kicked off just across the Kingswood 10-metre line, collected his own kick, and then proceeded to weave his way through the Makhanda school’s defence to score a spectacular try from 40 metres out.
Pearson High lost 17-32 to Dale College on Saturday, but they bounced back with a big 57-12 victory over the Mzwandile Mali XV, leaving both teams with a festival record of one win and one loss.
Pearson flew out of the blocks and rocketed into a 19-0 lead only 12 minutes into the match. That brought a response from the Mali XV, who struck back two minutes later through their right wing Ilita Mkapa, who wrapped around to the left-hand side and scored in the corner.
At halftime, Pearson was three converted tries clear at 26-5.
Their outside centre Henrico Ferreira came to life in the second half, scoring two tries. On both occasions, he cut inside and shrugged off a couple of defenders before crossing the whitewash.
The Gqeberha school continued pushing hard, never becoming complacent, despite holding a healthy lead. They ultimately ran in nine tries to two to sign off on a positive note.
Scorers
SACS 33 (7) – Tries: Josh Gorgens, Jordan Forbes, Stephan Kruger, Cameron Hirst, Zac Dall. Conversions: Jake Dave (4).
Kearsney College 27 (20) – Tries: Tunga Griffiths, Luke Grobbealaar, Oliver Ludwig. Conversions: Daniel Miskey (3). Penalties: Miskey (2).
Michaelhouse 41 (17) – Tries: Fabiano Fierro (2), Oliver Guy (2), Spelo Mfazwe, Aphalele Chamane, Jack Carmody. Conversions: Alex Jankowitz (3). St Andrew’s College 5 (5) – Try: Qhawe Madikizela.
Kingswood College 38 (12) – Tries: James Mackenzie (3), Sam Dunne, Sinawo Bukula, Luniko Marivate. Conversions: Christopher Zimmerman (4). St Stithians College 20 (13) – Tries: Cameron Blignaut, Matthew Anderson. Conversions: Matthew Anderson (2). Penalties: Anderson (2).
Pearson High 57 (26) – Tries: Henrico Ferreira (2), Nathan Heyns, Sebastian Playdon, Kadin Kretzman, Matthew Rademeyer, Dewald Niemand, Keano Beling, Henrico Bodenstein. Conversions: Keano Beling (6). Mzwandile Mali XV 12 (5) – Tries: Ilita Mkapa, Onwabe Tanana. Conversion: Sibabalwe Gwinsta.
