Rugby first played by schoolboys and still the best when played by schoolboys
One only started to realise how much one missed with Covid19 restrictions when one sits at Affies and watch arguably some of the best schoolboy 1stXV's and talent in South Africa if not the world.
Hats off to the coaches and conditioning staff that did incredible work as only a few teams and/or boys showed any signs of rustiness or a lack of conditioning. Injuries were not as expected to be the order of the day although rugby was played at a pace and physicality only known to schoolboys.
And the parents behave like before, their support was loud, biased with the poor opposition and especially the referees the bad people.
From reports I received from all over South Africa, the behaviour, action and enjoyment were similar all over.
Day 1 of the Noord/Suid Rugby Festival delivered some great rugby, despite some matches being cut short due to thunderstorms which made the field somewhat heavy to play on and the ball a bit slippery.
It was evident that the boys were very keen to play and the competition between the North and South teams was alive and well on the field. The final tally for Day 1 was 6 matches won by the North and 3 matches won by the South.
It was also great to have the spectators back at the matches again which inspired the boys on the field. Affies once again proved to be an excellent host for the festival which was again superbly organised.
Judging from the scores after Day 1 the North teams were much better prepared this year than last year with teams such as Garsfontein issuing an early warning to their opponents this season after beating HTS Drostdy 67-0.
The South on the other hand also provided some good competition with the 2nd team of Stellenberg giving the Grey College Cherries a scare after a narrow loss of 26-21 by Stellenberg and the 2nd team of Paarl Gimnasium easily beating the 2nd team of Monnas 34-0 in a match that was cut short due to lightning.
But the match of the day was certainly Stellenberg 1st IV vs Grey College 1st IV which was a tough and close-fought battle with Stellenberg again giving Grey College a big scare when they lead on the scoreboard with 16 minutes left in the match. The yellow card given to Stellenberg in minute 56, however, swung the momentum of the match in the favour of Grey College. Stellenberg however never gave up and kept the score close until the end with Grey College eventually beating them 43-27 after a final try right at the end of the match.
Day 2 saw the South turn the table by winning 6 of the day’s 9 matches making it 12 all with two days of action to go.
The weather played along and it was a comfortable warm and dry day.
The day again delivered some high level and very exciting rugby with some of the South teams such as Paarl Gim showing why they are currently ranked No1 in the country by playing very slick and well-structured rugby comfortably beating Monnas 41-19.
The most exciting match of the day, however, especially from the host’s perspective, was the Affies vs Paul Roos match where Affies were the deserved victors by beating Paul Roos 24-18 in a hard-fought match showing that they will be no pushover when they will be facing their opponents later in their season.
Day 3 is a mostly 2ndXV day, however, three great fixures are on the menu in the afternoon.
Day 3 Fixtures
07h45 Menlopark 2 vs Drostdy HTS 2
09h00 EG Jansen 2 vs Stellenberg 2
10h15 Helpmekaar 2 vs Paul Roos 2
11h30 Grey College 2 vs Waterkloof 2
12h45 Garsfontein 2 vs Boishaai 2
14h00 Glenwood 2 vs Paarl Gim 2
15h15 Affies 2 vs Durbanville 2
16h30 Menlopark vs Drostdy HTS
18h00 Grey College vs Waterkloof
19h30 Garsfontein vs Boishaai
Day 1 Results (Match Reports - http://ruggas.co.za/noord-suid-rugby-festival-day-1-match-reports/)
Grey College 43-27 Stellenberg
Menlopark 06-31 Boishaai
Waterkloof 29-11 Welkom Gimnasium
Pretoria Boys High 13-20 Nelspruit
Monnas 2 00-34 Paarl Gim 2 (Rain Interrupted)
Waterkloof 2 22-07 Welkom Gimnasium 2 (Rain Stopped At Halftime Break)
Grey College 2 26-21 Stellenberg 2
Menlopark 2 00-37 vs Boishaai 2
Garsfontein 2 54-10 Drostdy HTS 2
Day 2 Results (Match Reports - http://ruggas.co.za/noord-suid-rugby-festival-day-2-match-reports/)
Affies 24-18 Paul Roos
Monnas 19-42 Paarl Gim
EG Jansen 05-26 Oakdale
Helpmekaar 34-36 Durbanville
Glenwood 37-26 Noordheuwel
Affies 2 10-17 Paul Roos 2
EG Jansen 2 12-38 Oakdale 2
Helpmekaar 2 59-03 Durbanville 2
Glenwood 2 13-18 Noordheuwel 2