St. Benedict’s push Pretoria Boys’ Hig
On Saturday 18 May St Benedict’s College hosted Pretoria Boys High School in a full fixture. Springs Boys High School were invited along to help fill up the fixture which saw 27 well matched and highly competitive games taking place.
The main fixture of the day saw St. Benedict’s College 1st XV take on the highly praised and ranked Pretoria Boys High School 1st XV. This fixture has become highly competitive in the past two seasons with PBHS winning 8-5 in 2011 and 26-19 in 2012. This is a fixture that the Bedfordview boys prize highly each year as PBHS is the only big boys in Gauteng the school is yet to taste victory against.
For the second week in a row a minute’s silence was witnessed, this time for PBHS lock Gideon van der Bergh whose father tragically passed away in the week.
The game started at a frantic pace, with the boys from Pretoria hitting their straps early and piling on the pressure. The pressure soon told with their big outside centre crossing the line, only to drop the ball over the line. This let off seemed to be only temporary as soon after the restart PBHS were straight back on attack. This time they made no mistake in dotting down to lead 12-0. The Bennies boys however showed a never-say-die attitude and soon found themselves on attack and placing the Pretoria boys under pressure. A side like Boys High are however not easily flustered and simply absorbed the pressure, before scoring another try to extend their lead to 17-0. Many in the crowd began to think that the Bennies Boys were in for a serious rugby lesson but this simply spurred them on. This resilience soon saw them cross the line to narrow the gap to 5-17.
However soon after this. the referee deemed a tackle by the St Benedict’s eighth man Nyasha Tarusenga to be dangerous and sent him to the bin for 10 minutes. Playing against 14 men, PBHS lifted their game to score once again and extend their lead to 22-5. Just before the break Tarusenga was reintroduced and had a helping hand in a try to right wing Senkie Mafuma. Matthew Smit converted from the touchline to end the half 22-12 in favour of Pretoria Boys High.
The second half began just as the first did with PBHS straight onto the attack, and the Bedfordview boys were struggling to deal with the impressive PBHS rolling maul. This saw an enthralling first 20 minutes to the half with some determined Bennies defence holding the Pretoria boys at bay and both side scoring points to have the game evenly balanced 25-19 with 20 minutes left.
Then the drama began, Boys High put together numerous phases in the St Benedict’s half. A professional foul by TT Tsotesi, St Benedict’s left wing, saw him receive his 10 minutes in the bin. There were no guesses as to what the PBHS were going to do from the resultant penalty. They put it in the corner and watched as their pack mauled well once again to extend the lead to 32-19. It was all hands on deck now for the Bennies boys and they dug deep putting the Boys High side under pressure once again with wave after wave of attack. The pressure soon told and resulted in a professional foul by Boys High deep in there 22m. Quick thinking by Chris Worthington saw him cross the line for St Benedict’s with numerous defenders on his back. Matthew Smit stood up to slot the crucial conversion that would make it a six point game with only ten minutes left on the clock, however his conversion hit the upright to leave the score at 32-24.
The Boys High pack once again kicked into gear and scored once again from a rolling maul to put the game out of site at 24-39 with only minutes left to play. St Benedict’s went straight back on attack and managed another try through wing Senkie Mafuma to close the game to 31-39 with a minute left to play. Pretoria Boys kicked deep and kept the Bennies Boys deep in their half. This did not stop the boys in white still having a go and with time up they still attempted to run at Boys High defence. This resulted in a chip and chase that went wrong – Boys High simply kicked it out to end the contest at 31-39 in favour of Pretoria Boys High.
