The second day of a brilliant St John's Easter Rugby Festival was played in wet and cold conditions, however, it did not stop the boys from leaving everything on the field providing some excitement to all that was brave enough to make the trip.
Helpmekaar 16-32 Paarl Boishaai
The last match of the day saw both teams trying to optimistically run the ball in very wet and muddy conditions. Helpmekaar drew first blood when they beat the Boishaai defence out wide with a chip kick ahead which was collected by the outside centre who scored in the corner. The try was converted and Helpmekaar was 7-0 in the lead within the first 3 minutes of the half.
Helpmekaar then forced a penalty just inside the Boishaai half which they kicked for another 3 points. Boishaai attacked into the Helpmekaar quarter but they managed to play themselves out of trouble with good tactical kicking. Boishaai then scored a very good driving maul try from a penalty lineout to take the score to 10-5 with 10 minutes left in the half. They soon thereafter kicked a penalty to level the score at 10-8.
Helpmekaar in turn responded with a penalty kick to stay in the lead at 13-8. They managed to force another penalty in Boishaai's quarter after very good forward play which they kicked to take their score to 16-8. Boishaai then got a penalty lineout 5 metres from the Helpmekaar try line right at the end of the half however, Helpmekaar stole the throw-in and kicked the ball out to end the half.
Boishaai drew first blood in the second half when they scored another driving maul try from a penalty lineout to take the score to 16-13. The game then really turned into a mud wrestling match with Helpmekaar applying pressure on Boishaai in their half for a long period however Boishaai absorbed the pressure. They managed to attack up to the Helpmekaar try line and scored a try to take the lead for the first time in the match at 16-20 with 12 minutes left in the match.
Boishaai then took control of the match and scored another try from a penalty lineout to extend their lead to 16-25. They then kept Helpmekaar pinned in their half and scored another try in the last minute of the match to win 16-32.
Paul Roos 40-03 Nelspruit
The first half started with Paul Roos taking possession from the kick-off and playing up to the Nelspruit try line scoring a converted try with their forwards within the first 2 minutes. Nelspruit responded by forcing a penalty in Paul Roos' quarter to kick their first points of the match taking the score to 7-3. With the rain still pelting down and the field becoming even muddier, both teams struggled with handling errors. Paul Roos however used their dominant forwards to force Nelspruit into their quarter and scored another two tries in quick succession increasing their lead to 19-3 which was the halftime score.
The second half saw both teams still struggling to play any good rugby in the extremely wet conditions. Paul Roos however managed to gain territory when it mattered and scored more tries despite Nelspruit's determined defence.
Hilton College 48-03 Welkom Gimnasium
With the rain pelting down Hilton used the first opportunity they got to convert a penalty to take an early lead. Hilton started to use their much heavier pack of forwards and scored the first try from the back of a 5m lineout-maul to extend their lead to 08-03 eight minutes into the first half. Hilton scored another try before the halftime break to lead 15-03.
The rest of the match saw Hilton's forwards totally dominating the opposition in the wet conditions. Hilton scored more tries to convincingly beat Welkom Gimnasium.48-03 on a wet wet wet afternoon.
St John's 07-28 Graeme College
The match was played in very wet and cold conditions with Graeme College showing early intent to run at every opportunity. Graeme changed their game plan somewhat with their backs looking for the support from their forwards rather than spreading the ball wide where their lack of speed was exposed by Helpmekaar. Graeme scored the first points via a converted try after their centre cut back inside to go over next to the poles.
St John's made several mistakes on the attack under the pressure from the defence of Graeme which allowed Graeme to set up camp in the hosts' half. St John's opened their account with a try in the eighteenth minute after some great individual brilliance by their inside centre to cut Graeme's lead to 13-07. Graeme continued their fine form and scored a try and a converted penalty during the last six minutes of the first half.
The second half was a lot more even in the wet conditions with Graeme College who scored a long-distance try with seconds left on the clock to win with maybe a misleading score of 28-07.
Lions Invitational 21-38 St Benedict's
Boland Landbou 38-00 St Charles
Boland Lanbou scored a converted try as well as a converted penalty during the first ten minutes of the match. Thereafter St Charles clawed their way back into the match and also created a few scoring opportunities. Unfortunately, some tenacious defence by Boland Landbou was able to keep St Charles from scoring with Boland Landbou leading 10-00 at the halftime break.
Boland Landbou scored just after the second half started, extending their lead to 17-00. The Boland Landbou forwards used their size to dominate creating space for their outside backs to score some scintillating tries. Boland Landbou scored a further three tries to win with 38-00 in wet and very cold conditions.
Noordheuwel 60-05 St David's Marist Inanda
Noordheuwel started like a house on fire and scored three tries within five minutes from the start of the match to lead 17-00. The halftime score was 41-07 with Noordheuwel scoring seven tries in just forty minutes. The referee stopped the match ten minutes before the scheduled end
