Grey High stages brilliant comeback to defeat Michaelhouse
At their Kolisi Field in Saturday’s final game of the Standard Bank Grey High Rugby Festival’s opening day, Grey High delivered one of the most spectacular comebacks of the season to beat Michaelhouse 28-19.
At halftime, the score favoured the Balgowan boys 19-15. Few would have expected the level of passion and resilience that the home side would produce in the second half.
High-flying ‘House flew out of the blocks, scoring in the first minute from a lineout inside the Grey 22. A sharply executed throw-in and quick return pass to hooker Max Oliva gave him some space down the touchline, and he beat a covering defender when he cut inside at the last moment to score.
The home side, however, worked its way back into the game, but it still appeared as though Michaelhouse had the edge going into the second half.
When Grey High finally took the lead, it came from their captain, Ciaran Killian. After receiving the long, flat pass, he broke the Michaelhouse defensive line and was into space. There was still plenty of work to be done, though, and Killian beat the fullback with a step in and then out before breaking another tackle and making the dive for five.
Grey’s victory spoke volumes about the unpredictability of the game. At the Pretoria Boys High 125th Festival, Michaelhouse defeated Affies, while Grey went down by 40 points to the same side.
SACS opened their account in Gqeberha with a 34-26 triumph over Selborne College.
The East London outfit struck first thanks to a deceptive snipe from scrumhalf Connor Fowles, who dummied a pass before hitting a gap from the back of the scrum five metres out from the posts.
From there, SACS turned up the heat. Inside centre James Sale did what he does best and broke a tackle inside the opposition’s 22-metre area to charge over for a try.
The Newlands outfit then added two further tries through the biggest and smallest players on the field respectively, with tighthead prop Qiraan Hermans and scrumhalf Jordan Forbes dotting down.
At half-time, it was 21-14 to SACS, and the Cape Town school did enough in the second half to slightly increase their lead.
Flyhalf Jake Dave slotted over all six of his kicks to collect 14 points from four conversions and two penalties.
Selborne scored two tries in the second stanza through big men. Tighthead prop Daniel Naude was the first across the line, and loose forward replacement Rosh Els followed him over.
Despite a physical fightback from Selborne, it was not enough to overcome the slick and silky hands of SACS.
Just after the SACS match, Rondebosch Boys’ High started their festival campaign with a 42-22 victory over Glenwood High.
It looked like ‘Bosch might be on their way to a one-sided victory when they led 28-10 at the break, but the Green Machine dug deep to match their opponents’ two tries in the second half.
‘Bosch inside centre Andrea Mynhardt dotted down twice, while fullback Shellvon Mabooi was prominent on the scoresheet, with a try and five conversions to his name, giving him 15 points.
Glenwood went down but scored a wonderful try at the death. A chip and chase by Rosco Williams allowed the fullback to get past three defenders, giving him a 30-metre sprint down the left wing to the try line.
However, he was chased down, but he found Cade Isaacs up in support, and the outside centre ran in to collect the five points.
Scorers
Grey High 28 (15) – Tries: Juan Potgieter, Blake Parker, Ciaran Killian. Conversions: Nathan Trystsman (2). Penalties: Trystsman (3). Michaelhouse 19 (19) – Tries: Max Olivia, Laird Hamilton-Brown, Jack Carmody. Conversions: Alex Jankowitz (2).
SACS 34 (21) – Tries: James Sale, Qiraan Hermans, Jordan Forbes, Luke McKenzie. Conversions: Jake Dave (4). Penalties: Dave (2). Selborne College 26 (14) – Tries: Connor Fowles, Luthanga Ngese, Daniel Naude, Rosh Els. Conversions: Riley Hansel (3).
Rondebosch Boys’ High 42 (28) – Tries: Andrea Mynhardt (2), Kelenogile Nkwana, Bertus Versfeld, Shellvon Mabooi, Bjorn Morkel. Conversions: Shellvon Mabooi (5), Eathon Williams. Glenwood High 22 (10) – Tries: Cade Isaacs, Tyler Leon, Thomas Ptak. Conversions: Vincenzo Loutz, Elgenio Oerson. Penalty: Loutz.
