The 13th Standard Bank Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival kicked off in beautiful, warm sunshine following a week of KwaZulu-Natal being battered by heavy rains. The Stott looked magnificent and in good condition, ready to welcome back players and spectators after seeing little action for two years during the Covid pandemic.
Play opened with a minute’s silence for the two Dale College 1st XV players, Liyabona Teyise and LisakhanyaLwana, who tragically died recently. Dale has participated in several Kearsney festivals, including the inaugural one in 2008.
Framesby 22-19 EG Jansen
The final game of the first day at Kearsney saw Framesby from the Eastern Cape and Dr EG Jansen from Gauteng pitted against each other.
Framesby applied early pressure but it was EG Jansen that opened the scoring. From loose play, they won the ball, passing it out to prop Tshepo Ledwaba who was unmarked outside the wing. He showed good pace to get over the line. Vice-captain Jaydon Bantom converted for a 7-0 lead.
Much of the play thereafter led to little scoring, although Framesby gave everything to try and cross the line. Eventually they added three points with a penalty by flyhalf Logan Muller.
EG Jansen then applied pressure and from a maul following a lineout, prop Marnus Swart drove over for a 14-3 half-time lead. It’s certainly unusual for two props to be the try scorers.
Framesby was the first to score after half-time, when wing Hugo Nothnagel beat the defence to score in the corner, with Muller converting from the touchlineto take the score to 10-14.
EG Jansen moved the ball rapidly from touchline to touchline, and they were rewarded when flank Layton Smith forced his way over, following a tap penalty. The conversion was just wide, leaving the team from Gauteng 19-10 leaders.
Framesby scored their final points when a pile of bodies went over. Then, in the final minutes, they pulled out all the stops with a kick ahead by Nothnagel who just beat the opposition to score the winning try, which was again converted with an excellent kick by Muller.
Handling by backs and forwards was excellent, leading to a good game to end the first day of the festival on a perfect afternoon.
Glenwood 29-12 Pretoria Boys High
In the penultimate game on the first day, Glenwood played Pretoria Boys. Both sides were keen to run with the ball, resulting in many handling mistakes; but it was an entertaining game.
Glenwood wing MnelisiGamede opened the scoring with a 60m run down the left touchline, outstripping the defence. This was followed by the Glenwood eighthman Lwazi Ngcobo breaking through the defence to dive over. Frederick Marx converted for the KZN side to lead 12-0.
Pretoria Boys got on to the scoreboard when right-wing Liam Brown had a determined run to score in the right corner.
Marx then added to Glenwood’s tally with a penalty, putting them into a 15-5 lead.
A kick ahead from their 22m area was chased by Glenwood wing Renaldo Le Fleur, and a kind bounce enabled a dive over after outstripping the defence in the corner to increase the lead to 22-5 after a conversion by Marx.
Pretoria Boys ended the half with a determined run by captainLilitha Matsiliza, converted by Justin Tattersall, for the half-time score 12 -22 in favour of Glenwood.
The Green Machine were first to score in the second half when fullback Andrew Maartins had a good run to dot down in the corner, and a good kick to add the extra points for a 29-12 lead.
Despite the Pretoria boys pressing hard for the last 20 minutes of the game, they could not get through the Glenwood defence.
Noord Kaap 17-43 Selborne
The fourth game saw East Londoners SelborneCollege pit themselves against HoërskoolNoord-Kaap from Kimberley. Selborne had greater weight in the scrums but the backs of Noord-Kaap were more agile.
In the first four minutes, Selborne was ahead with a try by wing OkwamQavane. Noord-Kaap had a good run ending with the player being tackled just short, but Selborne was penalised for not rolling away.
The Noord-Kaap scrumhalf Bryan Kenny took a quick tap and dived over in the corner to score. Noord-Kaap kept hustling and with a long pass to the wing FazludeanSaim, he evaded the Selborne cover defences.
Selborne flank Gareth Kriel helped by his forwards went over the line and with the conversion by Kyle van Wyk successful, put Selborne into a 12-5 lead at halftime.
Early in the second half saw some dominance by Noord-Kaap which culminated in a try by centre Eldridge Jack following a quick ball from a scrum. This was converted by Keanon Davids and scores were again level at 12-12. Wing Saim then used some pace to score in the corner for Noord-Kaap to lead 17-12.
This galvanised Selborne and they then held sway as the forwards dominated. Twice in quick succession when forwards drove ended with first No 8 Aaron van Dyk scoring, and then flank Kriel going over with Van Wyk converting one for Selborne to hold a 24-17 lead.
This was increased as their forwards continued to dominate. With the backs receiving plenty of ball, centre Blake Schwulst dived over, for a well converted by Van Wyk and a healthy 31-17 lead.
Flank Jacobs scored their sixth try when he scored close to the upright for an easy conversion by Van Wyk and the lead increased to 38-17. Fullback Schwulst had the last say when he scored to increase the lead to 43 and a successful conversion by Van Wyk to 43-17.
Westville 20-33 Monnas
Two heavy packs of forwards and slick backs saw the first half between Westville and Monument produce some exciting and enterprising rugby.
At the break, Monument led 26-10 after five tries had been scored. They had gone into an early lead when centre Conrad Sevenster went over after a driving maul, converted by Tylor Sefoor. A second try was scored after a second driving maul. This time it was flank Evan Retief who came up with the ball. Sefoor kicked his second conversion.
Westville made some good advance when wing Tristan Parsons passed inside to supporting fullback Tshegofatso Ramaloko who ran 20m to score. This was converted by Jones who added a further three points, after a penalty a few minutes later, narrowing the scoreline to 10-14.
Both sides continued to attack but it was Monument who fed off some handling mistakes by Westville, allowing them to go further ahead. Good passing at pace saw centre Zain Henery dive over again, which was well converted by Sefoor to increase their lead to 21-10.
Monument continued to attack, with fullback Jody Schambreel showing good pace to score their fourth try to lead 26-10 at the break.
Westville closed the gap after wing Tristan Parsons sped down the left touchline to score.
Monument then used their driving maul to good effect once more, when Sefoor received the ball from his forwards to score. He converted his own try for Monument to lead 33-15.
Westville did not lie down and they were rewarded when fullback Ramaloko scored and the difference narrowed to 13 points. The game ended at 20-33 but it had been a game of excellent movement and excitement for the growing crowd.
DHS 23-05 Waterkloof
The second game of the festival saw the KZN team Durban High School (DHS) against Waterkloof from Pretoria, with the visitors again taking some time to assert themselves.
DHS went ahead early on with a penalty by fly-half Deano Boesak. A couple of minutes later pace by right-wing Hopewell Ntshangase saw him go over in the right-hand corner again converted by Boesak for a 10-0 lead.
Waterkloof came back into the game helped by a number of penalties given away by DHS. With two minutes before the break, following another penalty, Waterkloof pressed on the try-line and eighthmanZander Tharion dived over. The conversion went wide, leaving DHS 10-5 leaders at half-time.
The second half saw play move up and down until Boeksak scored a penalty after 10 minutes of play to put DHS in a 13-5 lead.
The Durban lads maintained the pressure and after a scrum the ball was moved rapidly to the right, reaching Ntshangase who again outpaced the opposition to score close to the poles. Boesak converted for a 15-point lead.
Boesak converted his fourth kick at the poles following a penalty for the lead to increase to 23-5.
Waterkloof, who had made a number of mistakes on the attack, was given a reprieve when the DHS utility back ran 90m to cross the line, only to drop the ball in the in-goal area.
Kearsney 10-14 Marlow
As has become tradition, hosts Kearsney opened their festival, this time playing newcomers HoërLandbouskool Marlow from Cradock in the Eastern Cape.
The first half was evenly contested with the Marlow forwards giving their team a slight advantage. The Kearsney backline, with centres Aya Mngaza and Siso France, both full of running, were able to make a few breaks.
The first by Mngaza ended with a tackle near the try-line and from the ruck hooker Devahn van der Walt dived over. With just a minute from half-time, France made a good break, feeding fullback NhlakaniphoNgubane who had the pace to get over the corner.
Both conversions were missed for Kearsney to lead 10-0 at the break.
After 15 minutes of the first half where play had moved up and down the field, a concerted effort by the Marlow forwards ended with eighthmanBurrie van Heerden diving over. The conversion by centre Aiden de Villiers was successful.
Kearsney got back into the Marlow half, but a handling mistake was pounced on by left-wing Dempers Meyer. He made 30m, passing inside to centre Leonard Booysen who had the pace to outstrip the cover defence and go over under the posts. De Villiers converted for the visitors to go into a 14-10 lead with 12 minutes remaining.
As the game progressed, so Kearsney came under increased pressure with the Marlow backline imposing themselves. The game ended with no further score but with Kearsney doing more defending.
