2 April 2024
Westville Boys’ High vs Hoërskool Monument
While Durban High School (DHS) completed a rampant unbeaten run at the 2024 Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival on Monday, and Dr EG Jansen and Rondebosch Boys’ High also went undefeated, Westville Boys’ High stole the show with an upset win over Hoërskool Monument.
Monument dominated the first 20 minutes of the game, although Westville, heavily outweighed, gave them fits in the tight scrums, regularly driving Monnas backwards.
“Our issue has been our lineout, but our scrum has been really good,” Westville coach Njabulo “Jabz” Zulu commented. “Jesh [Ferreira], who is actually a prop, scrumming as a hooker, helps us a lot. I’m proud of the little guys beating the big guys. It shows that it can be done.”
It was, however, the Griffin‘s hard-hitting tackling that caught the eye as the Krugersdorp boys struggled to turn possession into points.
Unathi Mlotshwa put Westville in front with a penalty and Jadrian Afrikaner then staked the local lads to a double figure lead after intercepting and racing through to score under the posts.
A turnover, followed by a sniping run from scrumhalf Ryan Pistor, well supported by captain Chris Cloete, created good ball for the backline and a flat skip pass found Jade-Will Koopman running a superb line to slash through the Monument defences to put Westville 15-0 up at the break.
It got even better in the second half when Blake Allbon put Michael Satade into a gap. The burly centre broke a tackle and then beat the cover defence with a nice step off of his right foot to go in next to the posts.
Down by 22 points, Monument finally began to make some progress against Westville’s whole-hearted resistance.
Kealan Milton showed off his wheels to go over in the right-hand corner and Keenan Myners scored from a driving maul to make it 22-10, but another bone-crushing tackle from Westville resulted in a turnover, which then brought the Griffin a penalty.
With seven minutes remaining, Mlotshwa put Westville more than two converted tries ahead with his second successful kick off the tee.
Monument pushed to the end and Milton went over for a second five-pointer. Right on the final whistle, Vincent Robberts also scored, but a stirring victory was Westville’s.
Afterwards, coach Zulu said his team had taken lessons from watching Kearsney in action. He explained: “When we watched the Kearney game against Rondebosch, we spoke as a team, and I said what I really liked about Kearsney’s performance, even though they didn’t win, was their physicality and the chop tackle. The Rondebosch guys are good attackers, but they really stopped them with the chop tackles.
“We identified that Monument keeps it with their forwards, and they are big boys. If you try and tackle them up high, it becomes a negotiation, so you have to chop. Our theme was chopping and being brave. The boys stuck to it.”
Zulu said he also cited another recent victory, which captured the imagination, in his half-time talk. “It takes time to find your way. Even at half-time, I spoke about Jeppe and what they were able to do [against Grey College]. I told the guys we were almost there, but the job was not done, so keep at it.
“It’s schoolboy sport. The road is not a straight road, but now I hope we can be more consistent, and maybe this will give us more belief that we can be up there with the really good teams.”
Westville Boys’ High 25 (15) – Tries: Jadrian Afrikaner, Jade-Will Koopman, Michael Satade. Conversions: Unathi Mlotshwa (2). Penalties: Mlotshwa (2). Monument 22 (0) – Tries: Kealan Milton (2), Keenan Myners, Vincent Robberts. Conversion: Theuns du Plooy.
Durban High School vs Pearson High School
The “bad news” for DHS was that they finally conceded a try and Aka Bocqwana missed some kicks, but those were the only points the Horseflies conceded at the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival, and that was one of the rare missteps made by Bocqwana as School cruised to a 38-7 victory over Pearson.
In their previous festival outings, DHS had outplayed Hoërskool Rustenburg 45-0 and Nico Malan 21-0. It was the first time under the leadership of Director of Rugby Peter Engeldow that they had produced a clean record at KERF.
Their gang-tackling was outstanding. “Defensively, we hadn’t made a massive point of it being a focus, but we have played three games and had only one try scored against us, so I am extremely proud of the boys,” Engeldow said. In fact, in five games in 2024, DHS has conceded only 19 points, and you won’t lose many matches with that kind of record.
Before the festival, though, they hadn’t yet found their offensive rhythm. At Kearsney, they made big strides, and that spells nothing good for their opposition.
“That’s something we have worked on. It was something I wasn’t very happy with. We were playing it safe,” Engeldow said. “That’s why this festival has been good for us. We have the players to play. As long as we’re confident and execute it, it’s an exciting brand of rugby, which DHS is proud of, and I want to continue that. ”
With the energetic DHS pack leading the way, School made good use of quality ball, running onto flat passes into gaps to create a number of tries. “We identified that the best attack is through the middle, just straight, and we’ve got a few plays for those. It’s nice as a coach when two of the plays come off in a game. It’s fun,” Engeldow smiled.
DHS ran in three tries before half-time and three tries in the second half, with Marcwin Nero dotting down twice, while Adriano Jackson, Allston Cedras, Jordan van Wyk and Hlumelo Madikane also went over.
Pearson skipper Kian Rademeyer was the only player to breech the DHS defences in the tournament.
Durban High School 38 (21) – Tries: Marcwin Nero (2), Adriano Jackson, Allston Cedras, Jordan van Wyk, Hlumelo Madikane. Conversions: Aka Boqwana (3), Cedras. Pearson 7 (7) – Try: Kian Rademeyer. Conversion: Caleb Friskin.
Rondebosch Boys’ High vs Hoërskool Rustenburg
Rondebosch Boys’ High made their first visit to the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival a memorable one, winning all three of their matches after concluding with a 22-13 defeat of Hoërskool Rustenburg on the last day.
A mix of the solid and the spectacular, they played with assurance and confidence and their excellence was recognised when they received The Spirit of the Festival Trophy for their outstanding sportsmanship, their fearless spirit, and their conduct on and off the field.
Credit to their fellow newbies, Rustenburg, who, after trailing 6-17 at half-time – ‘Bosch had scored tries through Travis van den Berg, Ismaeel Conrad and captain Tom Barnard – pulled to within four points of the Capetonians after flyhalf Jaden Meyer went over for a try early in the second half.
Rondebosch was in control, however, and despite finding it difficult to break the Rustenburg defences, they finally added a fourth five-pointer from Justin Amos to secure the win.
Rondebosch Boys’ High 22 (17) – Tries: Travis van den Berg, Ismaeel Conrad, Tom Barnard, Justin Amos. Conversion: Caleb Belelie. Hoërskool Rustenburg 13 (6) – Try: Jaden Meyer. Conversion: Meyer. Penalties: Meyer (2).
Kearsney College vs Dr EG Jansen
Dr EG Jansen also impressed and won going away from Kearsney in the festival finale to complete an unbeaten run in Botha’s Hill, but they were 5-6 down at half-time.
The One-Stripe came out strongly and while never really threatening the Jansies‘ try line in the first half put them under pressure and forced a number of kickable penalties. Daniel Eager put two of them over, while Zaide-Leigh Rippenaar crossed for a try for the Boksburg boys.
Early in the second stanza, Kearsney lock Simo Mnqokoyi scored a delightful try, making a break, chipping, regathering the ball, and then finishing off with a spectacular dive in the right-hand corner. Kearsney led 11-5, but that’s when ED Jansen kicked it up a gear.
Matthew Bergman set the comeback in motion, fielding a kick down the middle of the field and then beating three defenders on the counterattack before putting Jeandre Jacobs away. 8th-man Gerhard van Aswegen also dotted down to make it 15-11 in the visitors’ favour.
Still, with eight minutes to play, there were only four points separating the teams. EG Jansen, though, finished with a flurry of converted tries, with Keanu van Loggerenberg, Jacobs, with his second, and Bergman all crossing the whitewash to take their side to a big 36-11 victory.
It was a sweet success for the Boksburg school who had gone down to Kearsney at the festival in 2023, losing 12-17.
Dr EG Jansen 36 (5) – Tries: Jeandre Jacobs (2) Zaide-Leigh Rippenaar, Gerhard van Aswegen, Keanu van Loggerenberg, Matthew Bergman. Conversions: Matthew Bergman (3). Kearsney College 11 (6) – Try: Simo Mnqokoyi. Penalties: Daniel Eager (2)
Glenwood High vs Nico Malan
Nico Malan won by just seven points against Glenwood, taking a 19-12 victory but, truth be told, it was an emphatic win.
Playing a similar game to the young Green Machine, they simply did it better. There was good flow to their play, which meant they did a fine job of retaining possession through multiple phases, while Glenwood was forced to do plenty of tackling.
Captain Jean Joubert slotted two penalties to edge the Humansdorp school ahead, and Aya Blaauw then added a try to take Nico Malan into a 13-0 lead at half-time.
Their possession and pressure produced two more penalties, which Joubert slotted, before Glenwood created late tries from Sthabiso Dube and Nkululeko Khumalo.
Nico Malan 19 (13) – Try: Aya Blaauw. Conversion: Jean Joubert. Penalties: Joubert (4). Glenwood 12 (0) – Tries: Sthabiso Dube, Nkululeko Khumalo. Conversion: Leo Weber.
Hoërskool Framesby vs Worcester Gimnasium
Worcester Gimnasium, after one-point wins over Hoërskool Rustenburg and Hoër Landbouskool Marlow, were 34-33 up against Hoërskool Framesby before conceding a penalty with time about to expire.
Framesby flyhalf Logan Muller coolly landed the kick at goal to steal a 36-34 victory for his side after a cracking contest.
In the early going, it was all Framesby, who forced a number of errors out of Worcester and turned them into points, running in tries through Sean Vermaak, Jason Niemand and Jayden Brewis to take a comfortable 19-0 lead.
Tyron Abrahams ran in a five-pointer for the Bolanders to get them onto the board, but they trailed by 14 at the break.
In the second half, they came out firing, giving the ball air and causing Framesby all sorts of problems. Fullback Lorenzo Harmse flew in for a brace for Worcester and when prop Amaan Adendorff added five, the Bosvarke had erased their 19-point deficit and taken the lead.
Framesby struck back through a try from 8th-man Johan van Zyl, but Worcester Gim then added another, with their 8th-man Ryan Jacobs scoring.
In a further exchange of tries, Valentino Nomadluka went over for Worcester and Eden Calitz did the trick for Framesby. In the end, though, it was left to Muller to settle an absorbing contest with his boot. His successful strike left Framesby jumping for joy.
Framesby 36 (19) – Tries: Sean Vermaak, Niemand, Jayden Brewis, Johan van Zyl, Eden Calitz. Conversions: Logan Muller (4). Penalty: Muller. Worcester Gimnasium 34 (5) – Tries: Lorenzo Harmse, Tyron Abrahams, Amaan Adendorff, Ryan Jacobs, Valentino Namodluka. Conversions: Tyron Abrahams, Harmse.
Hoër Landbouskool Marlow vs Hoërskool Noord-Kaap
Day three’s opener, like the previous match days’ openers, was a fantastic advertisement for schoolboy rugby. It looked like a movie set as Hoërskool Noord-Kaap and Hoër Landbouskool Marlow went at it in beautiful Botha’s Hill mist.
The Kimberley side was on the scoreboard first, with Jonaden Links racing over for five points, but Marlow reduced the gap to two points through the trusty right boot of Gideon Jordaan. Noord-Kaap, though, added seven points from a penalty try.
Jordaan responded with a try of his own and added a penalty to put Marlow two points clear at half-time.
Marlow, then, added tries through tighthead Hermanus Steyn and Jan Els in the second half, but Abdul Fisher replied for Noord-Kaap and a second penalty try boosted their total by seven more points.
The Cradock boys held on, however, to claim a narrow 30-26 victory.
Marlow Landbou 30 (16) – Tries: Gideon Jordaan, Hermanus Steyn, Jan Els. Conversions: Jordaan (3). Penalties: Jordaan (3). Noord-Kaap 26 (14) – Tries: Penalty Try (2), Jonaden Links, Abdul Fischer. Conversion: Fischer.
Leave a Reply