After what had been a tumultuous week for both teams and with horrendous weather predicted things played out perfectly on the farm come noon on Saturday. Two good schoolboy rugby teams played a physical and entertaining seventy minutes of rugby in dry conditions. Boland Landbou beat The South African College High School (SACS) 24-17 (halftime 21-5).
What a week it had been at Boland! Long time head coach Oloff Berghdropped seven matrics from the 1stXV after the loss to HTS Drostdy last week and then promptly resigned as coach. SACS on the other hand had seven first-choice players out injured and lost their captain Muhammad Hassiem to injury in the first five minutes of the match, while Boland lost their flyhalf to injury early on and another player to a red card just before halftime.
With no spectators around the field, the boys on the field could focus on doing what they should be doing, especially with the threat of another suspension of contact sport hanging over them, namely enjoying themselves and representing their respective schools with pride.
There was a strong wind favouring the hosts in the first half and they duly dominated territory. After ten minutes flanker, Jean Timms scooted around the blindside of a wide ruck to score after some good build-up play. Fullback Jeandre’ Genis converted like he did all four of his attempts at poles on the day.
On twenty minutes SACS opened their account with a well-worked penalty move. Fullback Devon Jearey ran a good line off his scrumhalf to score. Soon after Boland exposed a disconnect in the SACS defensive line around the halfway line and put wing Emile Gryser in for another try.
Boland struck the killer blow on the stroke of halftime. They scored a try via centre Freddie Dreyer from a five-yard scrum, which SACS should have defended better. Even with the wind at their backs, it was never going to be easy for SACS to score three times against Boland on their home ground.
SACS tried valiantly and put on a good display in the second half. No. 8 Siviwe Kewana was the standout player for the visitors and was rewarded with a good try for his efforts. When scrumhalf Mihlali Mzomza scored and dropped kicked the conversion with fifteen minutes to go, making the score 21-17 to Boland, it seemed like anyone’s game.
SACS made a few handling errors in their desperation to win. Boland slowed the game down, played to their strengths and ground out a penalty to give them a seven-point cushion with five minutes to go. They duly closed the game out and celebrated wildly at the final whistle. It was an important win for them! For SACS, it was another narrow defeat away from home. They’ll be hoping for a change of fortune when they play their first home game against Rondebosch Boy’s High this week.
Scorers:
Boland Landbou: Tries: Jean Timms, Emile Gryser and Freddie Dreyer. Conversions: Jeandre’ Genis (3). Penalty: Jeandre’ Genis
SACS: Tries: Devon Jearey, Siviwe Kewana and Mihlali Mzomba. Conversion: Mihlali Mzomba
Article by: https://sacsrugby.com/