Grey College beat Monnas 31-15 in Bloemfontein on Saturday. Grey College leaked two tries in the second half by Monnas’ Ruan Genis, which helped Monnas to make the score more respectable.
However, Monnas showed that they are improving by leaps and bounds and will be the once-feared "Wit Bulle" sooner than later, if they can improve their discipline, which reduced them to thirteen players at one stage. Their forwards are massive and aggresive while their defence was at times brilliant.
Grey College did what was expected from them; however, the two leaked tries were due to horrible defence by their superstars, which can only be attributed to a lack of commitment. Otherwise, they must be a favourite to end the season as the best 1stXV. Their speed of attack and on defence is top-class and should steer them to more spectacular wins.
Monnas started the match like a house on fire, showing early intent to run at Grey College with pace and no fear. The match remained scoreless until Monnas’ fly-half Jaydon Viljoen launched a sixty-meter drop to edge Monnas 03-00 into the lead.
Grey replied immediately when they attacked from the back of a maul, and Xander de Beer scored Grey’s first try to edge Grey 05-03 in the lead with seven minutes still to play in the first half.
Grey College launched wave after wave of attacks during the final five minutes, and Eddie Mabena cut Monnas’ defence in two to score Grey’s second try of the match to lead 12-03 at the halftime break.
Grey College dominated from the start of the second half, and Hennie Bredenham bulldozed his way over Monnas tryline to extend Grey College’s lead to 17-03.
Monnas worked their way back into the half of Grey College with the help of several penalties conceded by Grey College; however, the speed of the defence of Grey College stopped Monnas from scoring deserved points.
Following a second yellow card that reduced Monnas to thirteen players, Grey College’s fly-half Christoff Crous cut Monnas defence with ease. Crous also converted his try to extend Grey College’s lead to 24-03 with seventeen minutes still to play in the second half.
Horrible defence by Grey College gave Ruan Genis the space to blitz down the touchline to score Monnas’ first try of the match. Jaydon Viljoen converted to cut Grey College’s lead to 24-10 with thirteen minutes still to play in the second half.
With eight minutes to play, the ill-discipline by Grey saw Monnas take a quick tap and spread the ball wide to the speedster Ruan Genis, who once again beat several Grey defenders on his way to the tryline of Grey College. Grey College led 24-15.
Grey attacked from a scrum, and thanks to a brilliant linebreak by the replacement outside centre, who sent the ball wide to Lamla Mgedezi to score Grey College's fifth try, beating several defenders on his way to Monnas’ tryline. Crous converted to extend Grey College’s lead to 31-15 and two minutes still to play in the second half.
Grey College beat Monnas 31-15.
Scorers:
Grey College: Tries: Xander de Beer, Eddie Mabena, Hennie Bredenham, Christoff Crous, Lamla Mgedezi. Conversions: Christoff Crous (3).
Monnas: Tries: Ruan Genis (2). Conversion: Jaydon Viljoen. Drop Goal: Jaydon Viljoen
Grey College: 1 Hennie Bredenham, 2 AJ Hendriks, 3 JW Coetzee, 4 Alexi Tyopolis (c), 5 Johannes Krause, 6 Xander de Beer, 7 Prestan Bennett, 8 Henru Erasmus, 9 Jonathan Drysdale, 10 Christoff Crous, 11 Wian van den Berg, 12 ORyan Kleyn, 13 Eddie Mabena, 14 JG Horn, 15 Lamla Mgedezi.
Monnas: Tafadzwa Chiyangwa, 2 Tristan Rodriguez, 3 Deacon Korff, 4 Matthew van Deventer, 5 Henco van Geelen, 6 Siyabonga Ncube, 7 Ryno vd Westhuizen, 8 Caleb Sparks, 9 Morne Noble, 10 Jaydon Viljoen, 11 Ruan Genis, 12 Caeron Kourie, 13 Juandre Ehlers, 14 Corne Moster, 15 Miquel Coetzee.