The weather was much better on Day 2 of the NMI Noord Suid Festival. The sun was out and drying the pitch from the rain of the previous day. The day again delivered very exciting rugby, which kept the spectators entertained with some very good fixtures and possible surprises on the cards.
Monnas 00-00 Paul Roos
Monnas started the match like a house on fire when they kicked a penalty and scored a converted try within the first minutes of the match taking an early 10-00 lead. Paul Roos felt the pinch and responded by scoring a converted try to open their scoring tally 10-07. Monnas forced Paul Roos into their quarter and scored another try after quick and slick handling of the ball to increase their lead to 15-07. Paul Roos remained composed and played their way into the Monnas' half where they kept them pinned for a while. The match then became a somewhat error-ridden affair by both sides, which resulted in the play and possession changing hands. Monnas kicked a penalty just before halftime, which took the score to 18-07.
Paul Roos fired the first shots in the second half when they gained good ground up to the Monnas' try line with strong forward-driving play. A quick-tap penalty on the Monnas' try line and a well-worked move netted them a converted try which made it a 4-point difference at 18-14. Paul Roos then received a yellow card for collapsing a maul in close to the Pual Roos try line. Monnas capitalised on the opportunity and scored a converted try which increased their lead to 25-14. Monnas loosened up the game and gained good ground up to the Paul Roos try line with some clever tactical kicking, which put the Paul Roos defence under pressure and allowed Monnas to score a converted try. With a comfortable lead of 32-14, Monnas gained more confidence and launched more attacking runs at Paul Roos, who succumbed to the pressure and conceded another converted try. The score was 39-14 with 6 minutes left to play. Monnas received a yellow card and Paul Roos, who refused to give up scored a try in the last minutes of the match. Monnas responded with a quick-tap driving maul try. Paul Roos managed to score a consolation try at the end of the match, however, it was a convincing 44-26 victory for Monnas.
Menlopark 11-71 Outeniqua
Menlopark opened the scoring with a converted penalty after 5 minutes of play, to which Oakdale answered from the kickoff to score from a quick tap 5m from Menlopark's in-goal area. Outeniqua lead 07-03 after ten minutes of play and already showed that they will run from anywhere on the pitch. Outeniqua's second try followed minutes later, again from a 5m tap, using their big forwards to score the try and extend their lead to 14-03. Although Menlopark started to pose some kind of resistance during the last 20 minutes of the first half, Outeniqua added three more "power" tries to go into the second half leading 33-06.
Outeniqua started the second half like a house on fire and scored almost from the kickoff. However, Menlopark absorbed the initial pressure and score their second try to reduce the lead of Outeniqua to 11-38. Thereafter Outeniqua took control of the match once again and scored another five unanswered tries to win 71-11.
Jeppe 21-43 Paarl Boishaai
Jeppe was the first team to flex their muscles when they attacked the Boishaai try line from the start of play. They came close to scoring a try, however, Boishaai absorbed the pressure and counter-attacked into the Jeppe quarter. Jeppe intercepted a pass in their quarter and scored a long-range converted try to open the scoring tally 07-00. Boishaai found space in the Jeppe defence and quickly attacked their try line again from where they scored a converted try to equal the score 07-07. They followed it up with another try soon after the restart of play to take a 14-07 lead. The blitzkrieg by Boishaai continued when they scored their third unanswered converted try after they beat the Jeppe defence out wide to take a 21-14 lead with 9 minutes left to play in the half. Jeppe recovered and attacked into the Boishaai quarter where they scored a good driving maul try to close the scoreline gap to 21-14. Jeppe soon attacked the Boishaai try line again and scored a well-worked converted try with slick handling at pace. The halftime score was 21-21.
Boishaai had to defend like demons for the first 10 minutes of the second half. They, however, started to enjoy more possession and applied pressure on Jeppe. This opened up space out wide, which they exploited to score a converted try and retake the lead at 28-21. Good tactical kicking by Boishaai forced Jeppe into their half, where Boishaai slotted a penalty kick to increase their lead to 31-21. With the match momentum swinging the way of Boishaai, they used their forwards to score a converted try from repeated forward-driving play on the Jeppe try line. This extended their lead to 38-21 with 7 minutes left to play. Boishaai had the last say with a try in the last seconds of the match to take a 43-21 victory.
Garsfontein 34-26 Stellenberg
Both teams were intent on running the ball wide at pace. Stellenberg beat the Garsfontein defence to score a well-worked try early in the half to open the scoring tally 07-00. Garsfontein kept Oakdale pinned and defending in their quarter, however, their resolute defence prevented Garsfontein from scoring points. Stellenberg absorbed the pressure and attacked into the Garsfontein quarter where they scored their second converted try. Garsfontein immediately responded with good attacking play. They sniped through the defence and scored a converted try under the posts. The score was 14-07 with 15 minutes left to play in the half. The match turned into a mid-field arm wrestle until Garsfontein intercepted the ball and scored a converted try under the posts to equal the score 14-14. Stellenberg used their big forwards close to the Garsfontein try line to punch through the defence to score a converted try. The halftime score was 21-14 in Stellenberg's favour.
The tight arm wrestle continued in the second half. Garsfontein capitalised on a botched clearance kick by Stellenberg from behind their try line and scored a converted try to once again equal the score 21-21. Garsfontein pinned Stellenberg in their quarter and kicked a penalty kick to take the lead at 24-21. They then scored a try against the run of play and increased their lead to 29-21. Stellenberg replied with another forward-driving play try after they attacked up to the Garsfontein try line. This closed the scoreline gap to 29-26 with 12 minutes left to play. Garsfontein played into the Stellenberg quarter with pace and intensity. They beat the defence out wide and scored a try in the corner, which increased their lead to 34-26. With less than 5 minutes left to play, Stellenberg slotted a long-range penalty kick to stay in the hunt. Stellenberg attacked the Garsfontein try line in the last minutes of the match, however, Garsfontein won the match 34-26.
Helpmekaar 29-26 Oakdale
Oakdale started like a house on fire and scored their first try two minutes into the first half, however, Helpmekaar found their rhythm soon afterwards and started to dominate territorially and close the gap to 07-03 with a converted penalty in reply to Oakdale's try. A long-distance converted penalty by Oakdale restored the 7-point lead after 15 minutes of play. A second converted try by Oakdale was almost immediately replied to by Helpmekaar who showed their speed out wide from the kickoff which led to a try with 15 minutes to play.
A yellow card awarded to Oakdale was followed by a try by Helpmekaar which gave them a 17-15 lead with 6 minutes to go. The match continued with both teams having several opportunities on the attack. However, the speed of Helpmekaar out wide continued to beat Oakdale's defence which gave Helpmekaar a 22-18 lead at the halftime break.
Oakdale opened the scoring in the second half with a converted penalty which was almost immediately replied to by Helpmekaar with a converted penalty to extend their lead 29-21 after 10 minutes of play in the second half. A try by Oakdale in the corner with 9 minutes to go was the result of continuous attacks by Oakdale, setting the stage for exciting last minutes of attacking rugby.
Oakdale threw everything they could find at the Helpmekaar's defence during the last minutes of the match, however, Helpmekaar just kept Oakdale from scoring the winning point to win 29-26 after an exciting 70 minutes of rugby.
Pretoria Boys High 35-31 Durbanville
Both Pretoria Boys High and Durbanville started their match with their guns blazing. They kept each other at bay for the first ten minutes with good defence, until Boys High forced a penalty which they kicked to open their scoring tally 03-00. Boys High then started to pin Durbanville in their half and scored a converted try to increase their lead to 10-00. Boys High kicked another penalty after they again forced a penalty in Durbanville's quarter. Durbanville was awarded a penalty try with a yellow card given to Boys High, which took the score to 13-07. Boys High, however, soon forced Durbanville back into their quarter with good attacking play and scored another try. The halftime score was 18-07 in favour of Boys High.
Boys High scored a converted try after they pounced on a loose ball behind the Durbanville try line, which was fumbled by a Durbanville player who tried to catch a chip kick. With the score at 25-07, Durbanville attacked the Boys High try line and scored a good try when they sniped through the Boys High defence. They followed it up with another try soon thereafter, which closed the scoreline gap to 25-19. Boys High responded by scoring a converted try from the restart of the match, which started to turn into a see-saw battle. The play started to become very loose and both sides attacked each other's try lines at will. Durbanville scored another try and Boys High kicked a penalty kick. This took the score to 35-24 with 13 minutes to play. Durbanville then scored a good driving maul try, which they converted to close the scoreline gap to 4 points at 35-31. Durbanville launched a final last-attempt attack, however, Boys High had the final say with a 35-31 victory.
