Noord-Kaap snatch victory from the Rooi Bulle at the death
In the first match on the second day of the Standard Bank Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival played in glorious autumn sunshine between Hoërskool Noord-Kaap and HTS Middelburg, both teams were keen to get their first win at the festival.
Noord-Kaap held a slender three-point lead at halftime, although they looked the more dangerous with ball in hand. Wing Jacquin van Wyk opened the scoring after just five minutes when he used his pace to round the defence scoring near the touchline. A great conversion by captain and fullback Elzandro Fredericks put them into a 7-0 lead.
This was held for most of the half until Middelburg capitalized on a handling mistake by Noord-Kaap. The ball passed through a few players before wing Quintino October scored under the uprights, giving Justin Botha an easy two-pointer and narrowing the gap to 7-10.
An entertaining second half saw a resurgent Middelburg come back and, with five tries scored in the second half, the appreciative crowd became increasingly vocal. Play swung from touch-line to touch-line with both sides giving their best.
Alec Vermaak scored and converted to put Middelburg 14-10 in front. Bradley Human replied for Noord-Kaap scoring wideout, changing the lead to 15-14.
JP Esterhuysen put HTS back in front with a good hard running try, converted by Vermaak, to make it 21-15.
Noord-Kaap did not stop trying and came back with a try by hooker Devin Steenkamp, converted by S Daniels, to end the exciting game 27-21 ahead.
Scorers:
Noord-Kaap: Tries Van Wyk, Steenkamp, Human (2); Conversions: Fredericks, Daniels; Penalty: Fredericks
HTS Middelburg: Tries October, Vermaak, Esterhuysen; Conversions: Botha (2), Vermaak
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