St Andrew’s College snatches K-Day win from Kingswood
In a finish which could not have been more frenetic, St Andrew’s College snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when Asante Chivere crossed for the winning try in the final minute of their King Price Derby Series clash with Kingswood College at City Lords, in Makhanda, on Saturday.
Although the conversion missed, the final whistle went straight afterwards for a 25-22 victory, which returned the bragging rights to St Andrew’s after a 22-22 draw last year.
The visitors trailed Kingswood by two points for most of the last quarter of the match after the home side took the lead for the first time in the 49th minute with a try by left wing Kevin Barnes.
That score by Barnes nearly ended in dismay for Kingswood when he was ever so close to being tackled into touch as he executed an extravagant dive over the tryline. But the referee ruled that the try was good and, although Praise Matsila missed the tough touchline conversion, Kingswood had edged ahead 22-20.
From there, it was a typical K-Day derby, full of passion and commitment by both sides as they fought to secure the victory.
St Andrew’s had an opportunity to retake the lead in the 65th minute, but the normally dependable Will Stevens pulled his kick just wide of the uprights.
However, the Andreans stayed in the hunt and in a brilliant period of control and precision in the last few minutes they worked their way deep into Kingswood territory through a number of phases.
As the home side’s players worked furiously to defend their line, eventually a skip pass to the right gave Chivere enough space to step past the cover defence to slam the ball down over the whitewash for a memorable, match-winning score.
Earlier, St Andrew’s had shown their willingness to run the ball, and they took their chances to lead 17-7 at halftime.
Hooker Amo Habi scored their first try after the forwards created momentum up front and later No. 8 Josh van Zyl went over from a lineout move, which outwitted the Kingswood defence and left Van Zyl with a huge gap to charge through at the back of the set piece.
Stevens added a penalty and two conversions in the first half.
Kingswood showed enterprise to score their first points. They took a quick tap, which eventually resulted in prop Junior Ndlazi bashing his way over, with Praise Matsila adding the conversion.
Four minutes after the break, Kingswood created one of their best moves of the match when wing James Mackenzie sent an inside pass to Matthew Paxton, who beat a few defenders and showed a burst of speed to score a superb try out wide on the right, converted by Matsila (17-14).
After Stevens and Matsila swopped penalties (20-17), Barnes went over for the Kingswood’s third try to put the spectators on the edge of their seats for the rest of the match.
But, eventually, it was the blue jerseys of St Andrew’s that had reason to celebrate after the final whistle.
Scorers:
St Andrew’s College 25 (17) – Tries: Amo Habi, Josh van Zyl, Asante Chivere. Penalties: Will Stevens (2). Conversions: Stevens (2). Kingswood College 22 (7) – Tries: Junior Ndlazi, Matthew Paxton, Kevin Barnes. Penalty: Praise Matsila. Conversions: Matsila (2).
