The Eastern Cape must be the province of South Africa where the competition between schools is the closest. The past weekend was no different.
Dale College won an exciting game kicking the winning penalty after which the final whistle was blown. Dale had a comfortable lead of 25-10 with 22 minutes remaining and then they lost a player to the sin-bin. With Dale one forward short Grey High used that advantage and score two tries using their forwards as their main attacking weapon. Grey High lead 27-25 after a third try was scored in the final minutes of the game. Dale attacked with intent and after some desperate defence from Grey High, Grey High was penalised in front of their own posts. Aphelele Fassi made no mistake 28-27 for Dale. Grey High's loss can be attributed to their lack of goal kicking success but then one would have to deny Dale the praise they deserve for the brand of rugby they play. The graveyard claimed its biggest scalp for 2017.
The Graeme College team knew that the season's results do not mean anything the moment they run onto the field against Queens. Graeme started the match in perfect fashion and was 10-0 up in no time. It was a day where Graeme never seemed to hit their straps on the attack, as previously shown this year, as they made errors throughout the game. However, they more than made up for this in the determination and will to win; especially in defence. This was evident as they defended on their own try line for the last 10 minutes of the match (including a period where they had a man in the sin bin) to see out a deserved victory. Graeme will take a lot of positives from the courage shown by the 1st XV throughout the game. It was a tense battle in Grahamstown as Graeme held on to win the tight contest 18-11.
The much-anticipated match between Framesby and Glenwood was cancelled due to the fears of parents regarding the safety of the boys while travelling to the Eastern Cape. No parent can be blamed to be concerned when their child's safety is in question BUT they do still expect school's from other provinces to travel to Durban in the same circumstances? Hope this does not mean Glenwood will become stuck KZN. South African schoolboy rugby do need a strong Glenwood team.
Brandwag had a too easy day against Otto du Plessis beating them 107-8 in a match that makes no sense at all. St Andrew's victory was expected and they will be waiting for Dale College to determine the King of the Eastern Cape on the 5th of August.
For all the fixtures and results for the weekend ending 11 June 2017 click here.