St Charles defeats Kempies, Rams edge out Clifton at Saints Easter Festival
On a very good day for KZN schools’ rugby – which included victories for Michaelhouse over Affies and Maritzburg College over Jeppe – St Charles College added to the province’s list of successes with a 24-17 win over Hoërskool Kempton Park at the Saints Easter Rugby Festival in Johannesburg.
Kempies had defeated Hoërskool Pietersburg in an impressive display on Thursday, but the Pietermaritzburg boys were up for the challenge.
Indeed, within two minutes of the start, Saints‘ blindside flank Joshua Barkhuizen received the ball on the right side of the Kempton Park 22-metre area, where he cut inside, and beat three defenders to dot down behind the posts and open the scoring.
Coach Craig Dwyer‘s boys worked their way into a 17-7 lead at the break, but Kempies came out firing in the second half. They kept fighting until the final whistle and were rewarded with a try from left wing Aubrey Hoskin after the hooter had blown for full-time.
He was the first to react when one of his peers lost the ball in contact. Then, with the cover defence barrelling towards him, Hoskins sliced back against the grain and provided his side with a late try to boost their score.
Clifton College started strongly against St John’s College (Harare), just as they had done against the Mzwandile Mali XV on Thursday, and it took them only five minutes to put points on the board.
Fullback Izah Roux, more often seen backstopping Clifton’s 1st water polo team, was the first receiver to reach a breakdown just centimetres short of the opposition’s try-line. Upon gaining possession, he danced his way past two defenders and flew in under the posts for five.
That was a good start for coach Jose Dos Santos‘s crew. However, the Rams had also conceded first against the festival hosts on day one before going on to a 24-21 win.
Trailing 5-13 at the halftime break, matters soon worsened for the Zimbabweans, who fell 5-18 behind only three minutes into the second stanza.
Their captain and hooker, Sean Takaindisa, led the fightback, making the dive for five after effectively exploiting the blindside inside the Clifton 22. When the Rams upped the tempo, Clifton was stretched, and they struggled to match the pace that the Zimbabweans imposed on the contest.
It pulled them through to a hard-fought 22-18 win over a game side. The win spoke volumes about the Rams’ character, too, with Takaindisa and company coming from behind to win for the second successive match.
After a loss to Windhoek High on Thursday, the Hartpury College II XV took on the Mzwandile Mali XV. A high-scoring thriller delivered 88 points and 14 tries, with the English tourists claiming a 55-33 victory.
Left-wing Callum Lettie had the crowd roaring when he turned an interception in his own 22 into an 80-metre run and a try under the uprights, which left the composite side from the Eastern Cape in a 0-19 hole after 20 minutes. They kept working hard, nonetheless.
Five minutes later, a short ball from flyhalf Sibabalwe Gwinsta to eighthman Bongolethu Mxoli broke their duck. Mxoli, running a hard line, burst through a gap, then stepped a covering defender on the outside to finish in the corner.
He added another later in the contest to take his tally at the Saints Festival to a sparkling three tries in two matches, which also underlined the talent to be found in the Eastern Cape.
Scorers:
St Charles College 24 (17) – Tries: Joshua Barkhuizen (2), Dresden Coetzee, PJ Dlamini. Conversions: Guillaume Botha (2). Hoërskool Kempton Park 17 (7) – Tries: Ethan Botha, Matthew Vermaak, Aubrey Hoskin. Conversion: Aubrey Hoskin.
St John’s College (Harare) 22 (5) – Tries: Sean Takaindisa (2), Lee Chigumba, Sebastian Sarpo. Conversion: Sarpo. Clifton College 18 (13) – Tries: Izah Roux, Luke Pottow. Conversion: Jack Snaith. Penalties: Izah Roux (2).
Hartpury College II 55 (24) – Tries: Louie Thomas-Wade (2), Callum Letties (2), Harvey McNamara (2), Toby Johnson, Louie Stephens-Foster, Beau Wareham. Conversions: James Siberry (5). Mzwandile Mali XV 33 (12) – Tries: Bongolethu Mxoli (2), T.S. Dyster, Matthew Goliath, Onwabe Tanana. Conversions: Sibabalwe Gwinsta (4).
