Graeme meet Grey

The matches were played in good spirit, with no inches given on the field.

The fixture did not have players away at the Meyer Sauermann rugby day, which seemed level the playing fields for Graeme a little.

The match of the day, from the Graeme perspective, was without doubt the u16a match. With both teams having players missing, Graeme seemed to have less disruption to their rhythm and played brilliantly to earn a superb victory on the day. The Graeme u16a side, who has done well all season, managed to win 22-10 and claiming a big scalp in the process. It was an upset, but one that the Graeme side fully deserved, and were clinical throughout the match. It was a tough contest from the outset after Graeme had narrowly led 10-5 at half-time.

Coming off the back of wins over Queens and Wynberg College, the Grey 1st XV were in fine form. Graeme knew they had their work cut out, but were looking forward to the challenge. Graeme used this motivation well in the first half as they managed to hold onto the ball for long periods of time, and were rewarded with 2 penalties by Sivu Ngqiyaza. One could see the Graemians were giving it their all, however their set pieces were starting to let them down at important stages in the game. Grey started to gain some confidence and found their rhythm, scoring two unconverted tries to make the tally 10-6 to Grey at half time. At this stage Graeme would have believed that they were in with a chance of causing a massive upset.

In the second half, the fire power at Grey’s disposal (especially with some excellent players returning from the trials) started to take its toll on the Graeme team. Graeme were unable to get good ball from set pieces and Grey were finding their feet, as they managed to hold onto the ball for most of the second half. With a good platform to work from, the Grey backline started to run from all parts of the field, often exposing the Graeme defence. Grey ran in 6 tries as Graeme started to slip off tackles.

The game was turned on its head in a 20-min period where Graeme struggled to cope with the speed and strength of the Grey backline. Graeme continued to fight and scored a consolation try through Cameron Amos. Grey eventually ran out winners 52-13, and Graeme will be a little disappointed with themselves after a good first half.

The result though was testament to the exciting flair, speed and skill at the disposal of the Grey side.

From Graeme