Michaelhouse withstands PBHS fightback, St Charles downs St Stithians
Michaelhouse hosted Pretoria Boys High on Meadows on Saturday, running out on their home ground for the first time in almost a month.
In their most recent games, they had scored a stirring victory over Hilton College on Gilfillan Field but had then lost to Maritzburg College on Goldstone’s in the cauldron of College’s Old Boys’ Weekend. They were eager to put that disappointment behind them and they did, just, winning 34-27.
Boys High entered the contest having gone down in their last match, but they would have been encouraged by their showing in a 22-27 defeat against a strong Jeppe High School for Boys outfit. It’s been a tough season for the Candies, playing one of the toughest schedules in the country, but there have been signs of growth for the side.
At Michaelhouse, they made a good start, with the home team doing themselves no favours by conceding a string of penalties in the early going. The visitors made them pay when Tumisho Motswi knocked over an easy penalty.
‘House responded with a try in the 12th minute, scored by Riley Gehren, who put in a dive for five, extending to dot down, after a serious of close-range charges at the PBHS try line had opened up space on the right.
Five minutes later, Michaelhouse was in again. After spreading the visitors’ defensive line by probing out wide on both flanks, Tom Baguley ran onto a pop pass from Aphiwe Shelembe to crash over to the left of the uprights. Luke Davidson added the extras.
Boys High turned to their rolling maul, which has been an excellent weapon for them this season, to draw within two. From a five-metre lineout, they drove over the line, with their hooker Thapelo Mphela claiming the try. Motswi’s conversion made it 12-10.
The fleetfooted fullback then made a searing break from inside his 22 and left Michaelhouse defenders trailing in his wake before a low pass on the home team’s 22 led to a counterattack, bringing about a swing in momentum.
After turning over possession in the visiting team’s 22, thanks to a crunching tackle, Michaelhouse laid siege to the PBHS try line, bashing it up with their big men, and it was Robert Combrinck who made the breakthrough. Davidson’s successful kick gave his side a 19-10 advantage at half-time.
Five minutes into the second stanza, ‘House were in again.
When an attempted Garryowen by Boys High, from deep inside their 22, didn’t gain much ground. Combrinck latched onto the ball and quickly found Davidson on the short side. The flyhalf, summing up the situation in a flash, sprinted towards the try line, drew the final defender and put
Connor McAlpine over in the left-hand corner.
Soon, they had themselves another five points. From a scrum on the centre spot, Michaelhouse went left, where Baguley fed wing Aya Mkokheli, who had looped around. With a show of the ball, he sliced through a gap in the PBHS defence. Then, a wiggle of the hips momentarily wrongfooted the last defender, Itu Baloyi, who made a quick recovery to put in valiant diving tackle, but Mkokheli was in.
Having had a sighter from out wide on the left a few minutes earlier, Davidson beautifully bisected the uprights from the touchline to make it 31-10. Michaelhouse was cruising and Pretoria Boys High looked as if they could be overrun. But the Candies are made of stern stuff, and they came roaring back into the contest.
It began with Jeffrey Singo forcing his way over after breaking off of a rolling maul. Then, the Candies quickly worked their way back into the hosts’ territory. From a lineout, they went through seven phases before the skipper Tshepiso Shikhibana kept his legs driving in a tackle to crash over. Motswi slotted the kick to reduce the gap by seven.
Boys High kept hammering away at ‘House, and they again battered their way over the Michaelhouse try line with a rolling maul, but the referee deemed PBHS to have been held up.
No problem for the Candies. From the resulting scrum, they took the ball to the left. Then, when they brought it back to the right, Mphela received the ball, having built up a head of steam. He brushed aside a would-be tackler and was across the try line on the right.
At 31-27 in favour of the hosts, it was game on.
Once more, Pretoria Boys High attacked from the kick-off. Within three phases they had driven up to the halfway line, but the visitors were, then, pinged for sealing off the ball at a ruck.
Davidson calmed the frenzied action by pointing at the posts. He struck the ball sweetly, drawing it in from the right to convert and stop the visitors’ scoring spree.
A few minutes later, it was Davidson who booted the ball far over the Michaelhouse stands to seal the win. There must have been a sense of relief for the boys in red and white. What had once seemed like a comfortable cruise to victory had turned into a nervous win.
In Pietermaritzburg, St Charles College hosted St Stithians in a derby duel.
The visitors made a good start and were on the board first with a penalty inside the first three minutes, but the hometown Saints soon forced the visiting Saints onto the backfoot with some fine running rugby, which flowed from one sideline to the other.
In the sixth minute, after creating an overlap out wide on the right, St Charles had the right man in space, with their powerful and pacy lock Raphael Ajibade taking a pass on the St Stithians’ 22 before charging over the last defender and in for a try.
They doubled their score after a quarter-of-an-hour when Okuhle Peti beautifully read the opposition’s attack, racing up out of the defensive line to snag an interception and sprinting through to score under the uprights. A second successful conversion from Salmaan Mohammed made it 14-3.
Momentum was with the hosts, and they kept hammering away at the St Stithians’ try line, but it took a deft cross field kick from Mohammed to open up the Joburg school’s defences. He picked out Matthew Ludick with pinpoint accuracy and St Charles enhanced their score by another five points.
Mohammed was equally good from the left-hand corner with the conversion kick, making it 21-3 after 26 minutes.
St Stithians responded almost immediately, driving over the St Charles try line from a lineout for their first try of the contest. It was 21-8 at the break.
It didn’t take long for the visitors to cross the whitewash in the second half, with their speedy right-wing Cullen Bradford going over in the left-hand corner.
He was at it again 15 minutes later, once more looking for work and scoring out wide on the left.
A successful touchline conversion brought St Stithians to within a single point of St Charles, after a run of 17 points without reply.
With four minutes to play, however, the home side struck again, with Athi Qumo diving over on the right after a neat inside ball from Rashied Isaacs opened up a gap for the wing to race through.
Another accurate conversion kick from Salmaan Mohammed made the final score 28-20.
Durban High School (DHS) kicked off the weekend’s action on Friday with a visit to the Riverside Sports Club, the home of Clifton sport. On paper, the Horseflies were heavily favoured. They had nine players selected for the Sharks’ Craven Week team and Clifton had none.
Predictably, DHS won, running in seven tries in their 50-0 victory. At half-time, it was 31-0. Credit, though, to Clifton, who kept fighting hard and it was only on the final whistle that DHS scored their final points of the contest.
Mahle Sithole powered his way over for two tries, while Aka Boqwana, Neo Shakwane, Hlumelo Madikane, Zingce Simka and Okuhle Mbanjwa also dotted down.
Boqwana added five conversions and a penalty, while Jordan van Wyk landed one conversion.
SCORES
Michaelhouse 34 (19) – Tries: Riley Gehren, Tom Baguley, Connor McAlpine, Robert Combrinck, Aya Mkokheli; Conversions: Luke Davidson (3); Penalty: Luke Davidson; Pretoria Boys High 27 (10) – Tries: Thapelo Mphela (2), Jeffrey Singo, Tshepiso Shikhibana; Conversions: Tumisho Motswi (2); Penalty: Tumisho Motswi
St Charles College 28 (21) – Tries: Raphael Ajibade, Okuhle Peti, Matthew Ludick, Athi Qumo; Conversions: Salmaan Mohammed (4); St Stithians College 20 (8) – Tries: Cullen Bradford (2)…
Durban High School: 50 (31) – Tries: Mahle Sithole (2), Aka Boqwana, Neo Shakwane, Hlumelo Madikane, Zingce Simka, Okuhle Mbanjwa; Conversions: Aka Boqwana (5), Jordan van Wyk; Penalty: Aka Boqwana; Clifton College 0 (0)
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