The Weekend That Was 07/04/2019

 

What a weekend of brilliant rugby dished up by our schoolboys. A few big surprises around the world but none as big as the way Affies (RSA) took a brilliant Helpmekaar (RSA) apart. Maybe we need to force our senior rugby coaches to visit one or two of these matches and maybe, just maybe will we see an improvement in the way the senior sides play.

South Africa

Central Region

Grey College's win against Middelburg HTS (81-08) was expected, while Voortrekker Bethlehem "surprised" in a win against Goudstad (39-38) who was on a roll this season. Welkom Gim's win of 50-0 clearly sends out a message to the other Central Regions' hopefuls.

Eastern Cape

Dale College's close win 19-17 over Marlow surprised us all while Despatch's win over Daniël Pienaar (29-24) unfortunately still indicates of a once rugby great being not so great anymore. Graeme College trailed 12-21 against Clifton College at half time at the Kingswood 125th festival and scored three great tries in the second half to win 27-21

Kingswood had to overcome Kearsney's forwards who dominated proceedings to secure a 23-15 win at their 125th Festival while the Itemnelihle's win against the Lambs form the UK (27-24) must be mention. The Lambs is a team made up of players from the Independent Schools in the UK.

Selborne won 39-20 against Grens while the two frontrunners in the Eastern Cape, Selborne and St Andrew's drew 17-17.

KwaZulu Natal

In rather overcast and wet conditions Glenwood collided with one of its oldest rivals, Maritzburg College. A proud 98-year-old, 169 games, the history between these two sides and the script was written for what would be a thrilling match. Glenwood was expected to score yet another big win but with them leading only with 12-7 it was game on. Only one penalty was converted by Glenwood which gave them the win with 15-7, but it must also be said that two tries were not allowed after Maritzburg College crossed the Glenwood try-line during the second half.

DHS managed to beat Westville (27-26) in a very tense and close battle in the only other match in KwaZulu Natal for the weekend. DHS trailed 10-21 at half time but scored two early tries in the second half to take the lead for the first time in the match.

Noordvaal

Affies on the day definately the best team on the field, they dominated Helpmekaar physically which started to show in the Helpmekaar efforts and attack. The first 20 minutes was an arm wrestle by two heavyweights of schoolboy rugby, thereafter, it was oneway traffic all the way.  Affies won 52-17.

Anybody underestimating EG Jansen will make a big mistake. Their game against a game Kempton Park was stopped with 10 minutes still to go with EG Jansen 68-0 in the lead. Mr Dames making a definite impact on an EG Jansen whose obituary was almost written by many.

Garsfontein had to work hard to beat Rustenburg 43-33 in a game where Garsfontein received four yellow cards with the last three within the last ten minutes of the game. Either Garsfontein misbehaved or the referee was desperate for a Rustenburg win.

Transvalia who had a horrible start to the season almost pulled off one of the bigger surprises of the season when they pushed Waterkloof the whole game and losing at the end 24-29 ion a match that could have gone either way.

Frikkie Meyer's win against Oos Moot (38-18) may not be a surprise but the margin of the win a bit surprising. Middelburg also showed they are on their way back to the VirSeker Cup division with their 47-5 win against Zwartkop. Pietersburg win of 31-05 against Eldoraigne kept their unbeaten record intact with their 5th win this season already.

Jeppe was pushed all the way by St Johns on Saturday in their 19-18 win while Pretoria Boys High lost 27-41 to KES with KES doing most of the scoring in the second half as the sides changed sides on 15-15. Three tries by KES just after half time put the result beyond any doubt.

Western Cape

Paarl Gym, as always, were full value for their win (31-10) as they gradually wore down the Bishops team’s resistance.  The backs were penetrative, but only when the tigerish Bishop's defence - in which no.8 Isaiah Wharton was prominent throughout - allowed it.

Parel Vallei gave their first steps into Premier "B" territory and their win of 40-24 over DF Malan must have sent an early but clear message to the other Premier "B" schools. Durbanville beat SACS 33-24 for a win that does not happen every year. The battle between Oakdale and Drostdy HTS was fast and furious with Oakdale the winner (42-40) but Drostdy DHS not as bad as everybody predicted.

Paarl Boishaai had a close shave against Outeniqua (34-26) with a lot of supporters from Boishaai complaining about the effort form the Boishaai 1stXV. They do forget that Outeniqua is a very good side which will make all of the Top schools struggle.

Stellenberg win against Brackenfell was expected but the winning score of 31-10 a bit surprising. Stellenberg was ahead with 14-10 with 10 minutes left on the clock. Maybe Stellenberg was a bit off on the day or maybe Brackenfell is not as bad, maybe perhaps?

New Zealand

Not a lot of action as it was only New Zealand's second week of action for most of the teams. Hamilton BHS had an easy win against Westlake BHS (34-07) while Hastings BHS had to work a lot harder to secure a win against Kelston BHS (24-17). Auckland Grammar won 46-07 against MAGS with New Plymouth beating Feilding HS 19-07.