Old Boy Days’ celebrations spoiled by St John’s and St David’s

Facing a challenging match-up, St John’s College executed their game plan flawlessly on the St Alban’s Old Boys’ Day to scorch their way to a convincing 54-26 victory, while St Benedict’s College went down 27-48 to St David’s Marist Inanda.

St John’s adopted a ball-in-hand strategy and delivered a high-tempo game, scoring seven tries in a devastating first half performance, which carried them to a huge 47-7 lead by halftime.

The visitors pressed hard from the outset, giving very few opportunities to their hosts, and were very effective on the offensive.

Eight out of their starting 15 scored tries, with wing Bryson Walker converting six out of his seven conversion attempts. Fullback Gerald Van Wyk added another, as well as a penalty and a try.

In the second half, St Alban’s produced a spirited fightback, and defended well to concede only seven more points. They also went over for three tries, which included a penalty try.

However, the damage had been done and the Hoops had a mountain to climb and a miracle to perform to pull off a victory.

Afterwards, the St John’s coaches praised their players for their commendable performance and effort. The Blues’ Kathleo Lynch described it as his side’s “best performance of the season so far.”

St Benedict’s College, meanwhile, put up 22 points in the first half of their clash with St David’s, which was easily their highest points’ total of the season. At the break, they led 22-15.

Captain Jason Cutler scored two tries for the home side, and he was well supported by prop Victor Concalves and wing Tshegofatso Mojapelo, who also broke through for tries.

However, in the second half, St David’s surged back into the contest and eventually won going away to spoil Bennies’ old boys’ celebrations.

Fullback Teegen Rossini and wing Kuzivakwashe Majuru benefitted from getting on the end of some good passing to each bag a brace of tries.

Next up, St David’s faces St Alban’s College on the coming weekend, while St John’s will be favoured when their take on their old rivals St Stithians College in their annual derby match.

Point Scorers

St John’s 54 (47) – Tries: Dom Kamangu, Joe MacRobert, Kakuhle Tunguta, Gerald van Wyk, Joshua Shannon, Jacob Smith, John-John Bierman, Thomas Ivers. Conversions: Bryan Walker (7), Gerald Van Wyk. St Alban’s: 26 (7) – Tries: Ben Stevenson, Keegan Dick, Jandre Botha, Penalty try. Converssions: Joshua Verster (2).

St David’s: 48 (15) – Tries: Kuzivakwashe Majuru, (2), Teegen Rossini (2), Jack Brady, Tahin Patel, Marco Bitter. Conversions: Diego Ferreira (5). Penalties: Diego Ferreira. St Benedict’s: 27 (22) – Tries: Victor Concalves, Tshegofatso Mojapelo, Jason Cutler (2). Conversions: Braeden Le Roux (2). Penalty: Braeden Le Roux.