In a day full of action the main attraction of day 1 of the Graeme Rugby Festival was the match between Grey High School and Hudson Park.
Grey High No 8 Jon Hobson made the most of a powerful maul to notch up a hat-trick of tries as the Gqeberha side comfortably defeated Hudson Park 44-5 in the Graeme College Rugby Festival in Makhanda on Friday.
While Hudson was full of spirit and tried hard to gain parity in the second half, when they scored their sole try, Grey’s general control of proceedings meant it was ultimately a fairly one-sided encounter.
Twice in the first half, Hobson was the man to take the ball over the line as Grey mauled to great effect, keeping their opponents on the back foot.
He was joined by lively left wing Luc de Villiers, who also went over twice as Hudson battled to plug the gaps to make it 20-0 at halftime.
From that stage, the odds were on a Grey victory and they continued to dominate their opponents with five more tries after the break.
In the main curtain-raiser, Dale will be kicking themselves for waking up a bit late in their game against Nico Malan, which they lost 32-29 after scoring three tries in the last quarter of the match.
They battled for much of the encounter against the forward cohesion and strong running of Nico Malan, who scored four tries in the first half to take a telling lead.
When they went 32-8 ahead with another pushover try in the second half, it seemed all over.
But Dale suddenly found a spark and this fired them up to such an extent that they threw the ball with such freedom that it allowed them to turn the tables on their opponents, who struggled to get quality possession in this period.
Unfortunately for the Dalians, they were trailing by 10 points when their final try was scored on the hooter, so they had to settle for a narrow loss.
In the day’s second game, Mary Waters secured a thrilling victory over Port Rex with just minutes remaining when Shaneen Peterson put over a cleverly worked drop goal to give his side the lead 13-12.
The move came from a tap penalty five metres out and when Mary Waters were unable to penetrate the East London side’s defence, Peterson dropped back into the pocket to slot the three points.
The match was well contested throughout, with a Peterson penalty giving Mary Waters the lead midway through the second half before Port Rex crossed for a try to move 12-10 ahead with 12 minutes remaining.
But the bragging rights finally went to Mary Waters as they capitalised on some territorial dominance to land the winning points.
Earlier flank SakheleKaitya scored a try for the Makhanda school and Peterson added a penalty and a conversion to his drop goal.
For Port Rex, Mlibo Makapula and Avela Dyubeni scored tries and NdimphiweSongqwaba kicked a conversion.
Kingswood showed good intent in their clash with Marlow as they cashed in on several errors to run up a 14-0 lead at halftime through tries by wing Vizi Labase and No 8 Tapiwe Zhanda.
The Cradock side were their own worst enemies, often being caught behind the advantage line, and when Kingswood crossed for two further tries after the break to stretch the score to 24-0, the match looked out of reach for Marlow.
Perhaps stung by the situation they faced, suddenly the Marlow team showed better intensity and cohesion to cross for tries by Jan Els and Hermanus Steyn, both converted by Gideon Jordaan.
It gave them a glimmer of hope, but that was quickly extinguished when Kingswood crossed for their fifth try, through James Mackenzie, to effectively shut their opponents out, finally winning 29-14.
A double strike in the second half by wing Mariano Pillay was among the highlights as an impressive Daniel Pienaar side ran rampant in a 43-6 masterclass against Union High.
The Graaff-Reinet team were constantly under pressure in the first half and Daniel Pienaar rolled out to a 19-6 lead at the break.
Fullback Armand van Rensburg was outstanding for Daniel Pienaar, kicking accurately for touch, strolling over for their second try and slotting four conversions.
He also broke well down the left side to set up a flying Pillay for his second try as Daniel Pienaar emphasised their dominance with a further four tries.
In the day’s opening game, Graeme College seconds had the edge over the Port Alfred High first team, winning 19-12.
Results:
Graeme College 2nd 19-12 Port Alfred High
Mary Waters 13-12 Port Rex
Daniel Pienaar 43-06 Union High
Kingswood 29-14 Marlow Agricultural
Nico Malan 32-29 Dale College
Grey High 44-05 Hudson Park