Grey High Rugby Festival: Parel Vallei and Graeme College post clean records
Ahead of the Standard Bank Grey High Rugby Festival, Hoërskool Parel Vallei (PV) was a team about which people outside of the Western Cape knew little. After the Bulldogs scored two comfortable wins in Gqeberha, those who weren’t familiar with them now know they’re a serious rugby team.
On Monday, Freedom Day, they defeated KuGompo City’s Hudson Park High 28-15 on the Pollock Field.
It was no surprise to see PV’s electric fullback, Shudley Rhoda, and their brickhouse inside centre, Brad Brown, get over the line for a try each.
Rhoda ripped through a gap by running an excellent line at pace, while Brown used his physical might to bounce off a handful of defenders one by one for his five points.
Left-wing Rafael von Loeper also shone with two tries, showing the Hudson Park defenders a clean pair of heels for both of his five-pointers.
Hudson appeared down and out when they went into the break trailing 0-28, but they showed fierce grit and determination to score 15 points unanswered in the second half.
Twice, they burst over from driving mauls, with openside flank Phindekuhle Mdlalana and hooker Avela Magcoba dotting down.
Their other try came from their right wing, Cwenga Bityo. He hit the afterburners on a 95-metre run after picking up a loose pass on his own five-metre line to score a simple but impressive try.
After a classic back-and-forth against Kearsney College on Saturday, Graeme College delivered another entertaining performance to beat St Charles College 43-17 on Monday.
Graeme made their intentions clear early on when they scored in the second minute, regathering the ball from kickoff and playing a couple of phases inside the opposition’s 22-metre area, where they moved possession quickly from right to left before reversing direction.
Flyhalf Ibenathi Kondile then dished out a testing cross kick, which left wing Selunathi Mfundisi claimed to score after a St Charles player dropped the contested ball.
Despite going down 0-19 in the first 20 minutes, the Pietermaritzburg outfit remained alert, and blindside flank Une Shabalala quickly pounced on a loose pass thrown out by Graeme on their own five-metre line. He was over the try line in a flash for five points to get the Saints‘ score moving.
Graeme led 29-7 at halftime. The second half was more competitive, but the Makhanda locals had already laid a solid foundation for victory.
With successive wins over KZN opposition, Graeme will head into Saturday’s Makhanda derby against St Andrew’s College full of confidence. St Andrew’s was well beaten by another KZN side, Michaelhouse, on Monday, going down 5-41.
Scorers
Hoërskool Parel Vallei 28 (28) – Tries: Raphael von Loeper (2), Shudley Rhoda, Brad Brown. Conversions: Stephan Niemann (4). Hudson Park High 15 (5) – Tries: Cwenga Bityo, Phindekuhle Mdlalana, Avela Magcoba.
Graeme College 43 (29) – Tries: Selunathi Mfundisi, Erin Nelson, Luke Doyle, Asakhe Ranuga, Andrew Muir, Ahlumile Maqungu, Lucritia Magau. Conversions: Nelson (2), Ibenathi Kondile (2). St Charles College 17 (7) – Tries: Une Shabalala, Lukhiti Mbalana, Letho Zimu. Conversion: Njabulo Nala.
Dale College 34 (19) – Tries: N/A. Conversions: Sonwabise Dyani (3). Penalty: Dyani. Muir College 26 (0) – N/A.
