O’Sullivan hat-trick trips up Bishops at 175 Fest

Michaelhouse produced a clinical display on the Piley Rees to hand Bishops Diocesan College their first loss of the season at their 175 Rugby Festival.
The KZN outfit hit the ground running and stunned the hosts early on, but Bishops clawed their way back into the contest in the second half, only to be denied by the visitors’ strong closing quarter.
Michaelhouse’s outside centre, Rourke O’Sullivan, scored a hat-trick of tries to help his team take down the Diocesan College boys on their home field.
It took less than a minute for the visitors to open their account after the Bishops’ attempt to exit their danger area was charged down, with flanker, Riley Gehren, diving over for the opening score.
By the end of the half, Michaelhouse had increased their lead to 25-3 and it looked like it might be a long night for the locals.
Coach Wes Chetty’s halftime talk and some fresh bodies in the pack sparked something in the Bishops’ side, though. Both tries for the hosts came through their substitutes, as Imma Magongwa and Chris du Toit helped their side pick up some momentum.
However, ‘House regrouped well to quell the Bishops boys’ fightback in the final stanza. In the last 15 minutes, O’Sullivan dotted down his third five-pointer and the big loosehead prop, Aphiwe Shelembe, rounded off the win with one last try to make the full-time score 37-17.
Though Bishops will be bitterly disappointed with the loss, they will take some motivation from the fact that they outscored the visitors in the second half and will look to bounce back immediately when they face St Andrew’s College on Saturday.

St Andrew’s ran into an in-form Wynberg Boys’ High side in their first outing at the festival.
Wynberg’s big 8th man, Torren February, crossed the whitewash twice in their 43-21 win.
An early yellow card to the local school gave the boys from Makhanda an advantage and they made good use of it to go 14-0 up through tries by winger Aza Nonxuba and centre Nic Hall.
Wynberg responded through their big prop, Luqobo Makwedini, just before the break. Once they got their tails up, though, they began pummelling the visitors’ defence in the second half.
February crossed over almost immediately after the restart, and three minutes later his hooker, Xabiso Mkiva, followed suit, to hand Wynberg the lead for the first time in the match.
More tries by the Capetonians’ captain, Aden da Costa, as well as February, Tyron Gombe and Kunene Gadu, put Saints to bed, and they were able to reply only once through their speedy winger, Julian Mapoore.
Kingswood College continued to impress after making a statement earlier in the season with a 29-14 win over Marlow Landbou.
They trailed Hilton College 7-25 with about 20 minutes left to play but finished strongly to sneak the victory by a single point, 26-25.
In the first match of the day, Grey High School, from Gqeberha, won an intense, low-scoring battle against SACS, with an interception leading to Grey’s winger, Meyer Prinsloo, scoring the only try of the match.
SACS had some difficulties with their goal-kicking during the pre-season and they again missed a couple of opportunities on Thursday. Clearly, that is something that needs to be worked on. However, there were also positives to take from their performance against the visiting side.
The first team action continues on Saturday when Bishops take on St Andrew’s, Wynberg crosses swords with Kingswood College, and Michaelhouse seeks to keep their record clean when they run out against SACS. The action kicks off at 11:30 when Grey High and Hilton College do battle.
Saturday, 23 March
Piley Rees Field (1st XVs): 11:30 – Grey High vs Hilton College; 13:00 – SACS vs Michaelhouse; 14:30 – Wynberg Boys’ High vs Kingswood College; 16:00 – Diocesan College vs St Andrew’s College.
Avenue Rugby Field (2nd XVs): 09:00 – Grey High vs Rondebosch Boys’ High; 10:30 – Wynberg Boys’ High vs Michaelhouse; 12:00 – SACS vs Bergvliet; 13:30 – Diocesan College vs St Andrew’s College.
Results and scorers, 21 March
Michaelhouse 37 (25) – Tries: Rourke O’Sullivan (3), Riley Gehren, Aphiwe Shelembe. Conversions: Luke Davidson (3). Penalties: Davidson (2). Diocesan College 17 (3) – Tries: Imma Magongwa, Chris du Toit. Conversions: Lucca Mynhardt (2). Penalty: Mynhardt.
Wynberg Boys’ High 43 (5) – Tries: Torren February (2), Luqobo Makwedini, Xabiso Mkiva, Tyrone Gombe, Kunene Gadu, Aden da Costa. Conversion: Yaqeen Ahmed (3). St Andrew’s College 21 (14) – Tries: Julian Mapoore, Nic Hall, Aza Nonxuba. Conversions: Scott Miles (2), Karabo van Heerden.
Kingswood College 26 – Tries: Munangi Kamwendo, Vizi Labase, Likhona Kepe, Liyema Katikati. Conversions: Praise Matsila (3). Hilton College 25 – Tries: Emmanuel Dankwah, Ben le Roux, Ivan Jjuuko. Conversions: Liyema Nela (2). Penalties: Nela (2).
Grey High School 7 – Try: Meyer Prinsloo. Conversion: Kyle Callaghan. SACS 3 – Penalty: Rayaan Solomons.