Day 1 of the NMI Noord Suid Festival brought cold and wet conditions, which made the pitch heavy and the ball somewhat slippery. However, it did not deter the teams from playing their best possible rugby which provided great excitement for the enthusiastic spectators.
Grey College 33-12 Paarl Gim
It was an arm wrestle from the start with Paarl Gim's attack often smothered by the aggressive defence of Grey College. After 10 minutes of play, Paarl Gim was the dominant side and set up camp in the red zone of Grey College, however, the brilliant and at times desperate defence by Grey kept the scoreboard quiet. However, Grey College started to claw its way "back" into the game and after setting up camp in Paarl Gim's red zone Grey scored from a scrum to lead 07-00 with 13 minutes left to play in the first half. Brilliant interplay and passing by Grey led to their second try in four minutes to lead 14-00. Grey College continued to attack with their big forwards and scored their third unanswered try, with time already up in the first half to go into the second half with a 21-00 lead.
It took 10 minutes in the second half for Grey to be rewarded for their dominance. Missed tackles and bad decision-making by Paarl Gim resulted in Grey extending their lead to 26-00 and seemingly on their way to one of the early "upsets" of the 2023 schoolboy rugby season.
However, Paarl Gim did not read the script and with 20 minutes left to play in the second half they started to attack with purpose and scored their first points from a maul. Grey's response was immediate with a try of their own to restore their lead to 33-05. A consolation try by Paarl Gim with 3 minutes to go helped to make the pain a little bit less for the Gim supporter, however, Grey College showed that the king is alive and well and not ready to fall over and die soon.
Affies 25-24 Durban High School
DHS shocked Affies by scoring a converted try from the kick-off within the 1st minute from a kick that was charged down to take an early 07 - 00 lead. They followed this up with a penalty kick to increase their lead to 10 - 00. Affies launched numerous well-structured attacking runs and played the ball wide at speed from left to right, however, errors made at crucial times turned the ball over to DHS. A DHS player received a yellow card for a dangerous tackle. Affies used the opportunity and hit back with a converted try scored from within their half to close the scoreline gap to 10-07. Affies continued to play all the rugby, however good DHS defence and more marginal errors prevented them from scoring. DHS scored a converted try against the run of play after they launched a high kick into the Affies quarter, from where they collected a fumbled ball and scored. The score was 17-07 in favour of DHS at halftime.
Affies continued their attacking play in the second half, however, they failed to penetrate the DHS defence and more errors committed again let DHS escape every time. DHS received another yellow card with 15 minutes left in the match. Affies then scored another converted try to close the scoreline gap to 17-14. The DHS defence started to crumble and Affies scored a very good driving maul try from a penalty lineout to take the lead at 19-17 with 8 minutes left in the match. A penalty kick by Affies increased their lead to 22-17. Affies continued their dominant forward play and another penalty kick increased their lead to 25-17. DHS had the last say with a converted try during extra time, however, it was too little too late. Affies were the victors with 25-24.
Noordheuwel 45-47 Maritzburg College
It took Noorheuwel 57 seconds to score the first try of the match and unfortunately for Maritzburg College, it set the trend for the match. Noordheuwel played an extremely fast but amazingly structured game plan when needed. Noordheuwel led 17-00 after just 10 minutes of play in the first half. Maritzburg College got its hands on quality balls and started to score some brilliant tries. Noordheuwel led 33-19 at the halftime break.
The second half "belonged" to Maritzburg College who started to play a more direct game. It was an "exciting" game where "defence" was a swear word. Maritzburg won 47-45, deservedly, however ......
Nelspruit 33-39 Glenwood
Glenwood drew first blood when they turned over the ball during a Nelspruit attack and scored a converted try from within their half to take a 07 - 00 lead. A Nelspruit player received a yellow card for foul play, which opened the door for Glenwood to apply attacking pressure on Nelspruit. This led to another try for Glenwood, which increased their lead to 12 - 00. With 13 minutes left to play in the half, Glenwood started to get the upper hand in all aspects of the play. They used their big forwards to get over the advantage line and draw in the defence, which created space for their backs to beat the defence out wide. This led to another two tries for Glenwood to take the score to 22 - 00. Nelspruit, however, fought back and scored a try at the end of the half. The halftime score was 22 - 07 in favour of Glenwood.
Nelspruit drew first blood in the second half when they scored a converted try after several attacking phases on the Glenwood try line. Glenwood, however, immediately responded with another try which took the score to 29 - 14. Nelspruit fed off the mistakes made by Glenwood and scored another converted try which closed the scoreline gap to 29 - 21 with 18 minutes left to play. With the momentum shift in Nelspruit's favour, they soon scored another converted try to make it a 1-point score difference. Glenwood responded to the scoreboard pressure and scored another two quick succession tries to open the scoreline gap to 39 - 28. A Glenwood player then received a yellow card for an illegal tackle and they managed to stave hold off a very determined Nelspruit, who scored a try at the right at the end of the match. It was however, too little too late and Glenwood won the match 39 - 33.
EG Jansen 19-13 Welkom Gim
EG Jansen wasted no time and scored a great try in the corner for the match's first points after just three minutes of play. Welkom Gim started to play a well-structured game plan and started to dominate the collisions as well as the territory and opened their account with a converted penalty after twenty minutes of play to trail 03-07. EG Jansen scored their second try with 6 minutes to go in the first half. Both teams tried to play running rugby, however, the defence of both teams forced several errors which made the first half a stop-start affair. EG Jansen led 14-03 at the halftime break.
EG Jansen dominated the first 15 minutes of the second half, however, great defence by Welkom Gim kept EG Jansen from scoring deserved points. After 10 minutes of play, Welkom Gim took advantage of a missed tackle to score on the other side of the field after great interplay and handling by the players of Welkom Gim. EG Jansen continued their territorial dominance and following wave after wave of attacks they scored their third try of the match to lead 19-08 with 15 minutes left to play.
Welkom did score a try with ten minutes to go, however, EG Jansen kept Welkom Gim from scoring the winning try with sometimes desperate defence. EG Jansen was the deserved winner.
Waterkloof 22-19 Drostdy HTS
Waterkloof took on HTS Drostdy in the first of the 1st IV matches. The first half was a very evenly matched affair. Waterkloof took an early 3-point penalty kick lead which they increased to 8 points when they scored a try with 7 minutes left to play in the half. Drostdy replied with a try of their own soon after that. Both teams ran the ball at pace and used their forwards and backlines to try and gain territory. The halftime score was 08 - 05 in favour of Waterkloof, although Drostdy enjoyed the territorial advantage with the match still on a knife edge.
Waterkloof edged further ahead on the scoreboard with another penalty kick early in the second half. However, Drostdy soon scored a converted try taking the lead in the match at 11 - 12. A relentless and well-executed attack by Waterkloof allowed them to score a very good try and retake the lead at 16 - 12. Drostdy, however, retook the lead at 16 - 19 after they scored a converted try from good attacking pressure play in Waterkloof's quarter. A penalty kick by Waterkloof then left the score at 19 - 19. With 12 minutes left to play in the match, the victory could still go either way. It was, however Waterkloof who clinched the match at 22 - 19 with a penalty kick during extra time.
