Great Win for Affies at St John's

Affies won it breathlessly as they came from behind.

The first match on Day 3 of the St John’s Easter Rugby Festival St John’s Harare opened up proceeding against the Lions Presidential XV. Even though the men from Zimbabwe produced a much better second half they could not match the pace, size or ball distribution of the Golden Lions and this combination side from the GLRU won convincingly by 27 points to 7.

Parktown Boys’ High and Hilton College, proved that the old beaten cliché of a game of two halves still does ring true as Parktown went into the break 17-5 up, but Hilton College then roared back and scored no less than 22 points in just 11 minutes. A try by Parktown’s hooker, Darnell Osuagwu did bring the scoreline back to a respectable 22, but Hilton College ably led by their captain Agnes Curtis and his kicking boot, had 27 on the scoreboard.

Hosts St John’s College, took on the Italian outfit, Viadana 1970, and dominated from the get-go, they ran in five tries while flyhalf Kieran Houlston’s boot, converted four of those. The final shoreline in this match was 33 points to 7.

In one of the much-anticipated matches of the afternoon, Monument and Helmakaar traded the lead four times before a try from centre Keegan Haman closed the game up and gave Helpies a 28 points to 15 victory.

Paarl Boys’ High and Hoërskool Nelspruit had one of the tightest first-half tussles of the weekend and only a penalty from Nelspruit's Craig Bouwer separated the two teams at half-time. Two tries from Paarl and some superb kicking from fullback Giannai Lombard secured a hard fought 17 to 11 win for the boys from the Cape.

The sixth and final match of the 21st St John’s College Easter Rugby Festival between Paarl Roos and Afrikaanse Hoër Seanskool was billed as the headline clash of the festival and so it was!

An early try from Affies put the pressure on, but then Breyton Maritz the lanky lock and centre Lyle Hendriks, dotted down while captain Damian Willemse, goaled both tries and a penalty to give his team a slender 3 point lead with less than 10 minutes to go. But a try from hooker, Schalk Erasmus, a conversion from the silky smooth fly half Ruan de Swardt and a penalty from de Swardt, with less than 3 minutes left on the clock, took the score to 24 points to 17. Against attack after attack, Affies held on!

Paarl Boys' High and Affies ended the tournament each with three wins in three matches.

Results at a Glance

Day 3 Results

Affies vs Paul Roos, 24-17

Golden Lions Invitation XV vs St John’s (Harare)27-7

Helpmekaar vs Monument, 30-15

Hilton vs Parktown, 27-17

Paarl Boys' High vs Nelspruit, 17-11

St John’s vs Viadana (Italy), 33-7

Day 1 Results

Affies vs Parktown, 49-7

Helpmekaar vs St John’s (Harare), 36-30

Monument vs Viadana (Ita), 47-0

Nelspruit vs St John’s, 21-5

Paarl Boys' High vs Golden Lions Invitation XV, 54-0

Paul Roos vs Hilton, 69-6

Day 2 Results

Affies vs Nelspruit, 38-0

Hilton vs Golden Lions XV, 18-15

Paarl Boys' High vs Helpmekaar, 24-17

Parktown vs Viadana, 39-12

Paul Roos vs Monument, 14-11

St John’s College vs St John’s Harare, 20-15

The teams:

Affies: 15 Tristan Janse van Vuuren, 14 Carel Koch, 13 Andries Wiese, 12 Louritz van der Schyff, 11 Christiaan Strydom, 10 Ruan de Swardt, 9 Jack Hart, 8 Jaco Labuschagne, 7 Phillip Krause, 6 Regardt du Plessis, 5 Henk Pretorius, 4 Dylan du Preez, 3 Arno van Wyk, 2 Schalk Erasmus, 1 Cabous Eloff.

Replacements: 16 Johan van Zyl, 17 Jan-Hendrik Pretorius, 18 Ruben Dreyer, 19 Desede Nel, 20 Henro Coetser, 21 Charles Goedhals, 22 Ruan Schmulian, 23 James Combrinck.

Golden Lions XV: 15 Ethan Martins, 14 Chinedu Joseph, 13 Marc de Villiers, 12 Vendré Fourie, 11 Sihle Ndima, 10 Christian Humphreys, 9 Franco Claassen, 8 Athenkosi Mzekandaba, 7 Sabelo Mweza, 6 Jurgens Benz (captain), 5 Pieter van Heerden, 4 Shane Hitge, 3 Brandon Gouws, 2 Ryan Trusler, 1 Reck Maré.

Replacements: 16 Austin Brugen, 17 Martin Jacobs, 18 Slindohuhle Molefe, 19 Byron Botha, 20 Hennie Venter, 21 Jaco Vewas, 22 Nicholas Swarts, 23 Mazwi Pendu.

Helpmekaar: 15 Chuiner van Rooyen, 14 Jeremy Randall, 13 Keegan Hamann, 12 Zandré Kruger, 11 Sherman Rayners, 10 Tristan Oosthuizen, 9 Ruhan Viviers, 8 Robbie Slabbert, 7 Liam van den Berg, 6 Mark Snyman, 5 Lehan du Toit, 4 Luwan Ludick, 3 Etienne van der Merwe, 2 Tiaan van der Merwe (captain), 1 Ignis Meyer.

Replacements: 16 Pieter Coetzee, 17 Raymond Bock, 18 Chris Pieterse, 19 Tiaan Scholtz, 20 Damian Venter, 21 Frederick van Deventer, 22 Milan Fourie, 23 Daniel Coetsee.

Hilton: 15 Cameron Badenhorst, 14 Ethan Way, 13 Hein Marx, 12 Nick Winskill, 11 Darren McGhee, 10 Angus Curtis (captain), 9 Graeme Curtis, 8 Fortune Phiri, 7 Tristan Warren, 6 Vuaghn Williams, 5 Matthew Hull, 4 George Putter, 3 Andrew Peverelle, 2 Tim Denshan, 1 Sakhile Nyenbezi.

Replacements: 16 Kuza Khubwimana, 17 Jono Smit, 18 Nick Smith, 19 Richard Teichmann, 20 Cameron Downs, 21 Martin Watson, 22 Thomas Fraser, 23 Daniel da Costa.

Monument: 15 Dandré Prinsloo, 14 Karel Vahrmeijer, 13 Reyno Potgieter, 12 MJ Pelser, 11 Arno van der Westhuizen, 10 Luke Rossouw, 9 Tinus Combrinck, 8 PJ Jacobs, 7 Juandré Joubert, 6 Kevin le Roux, 5 Ruan Vermaak, 4 Christopher Havenga, 3 Dewald Schoeman, 2 PJ Botha (captain), 1 Nathan McBeth.

Replacements: 16 Larko Lindes, 17 Coneraad Vrey, 18 Jandré Botha, 19 Cristen van Niekerk, 20 Louwtjie Dyson, 21 Brendan Buitendag, 22 Jonathan Rabie, 23 Dylan Wood.

Nelspruit: 15 Francois Esselen, 14 Craig Bouwer, 13 Marnus Kruger (captain), 12 Riaz Adebayo, 11 Nico de Kock, 10 Stephan van der Bank, 9 Jaco Joubert, 8 Jocha Cronje, 7 Janco Steenkamp, 6 Junior Schmidt, 5 KP de Jager, 4 Marius Slabbert, 3 Dewald Maritz, 2 Morgan Naudé, 1 Wium Barnard.

Replacements: 16 Harry Hearn, 17 Gerald van Eeden, 18 Heinrich van Jaarsveld, 19 Renier Troskie, 20 Reinhard Grobler, 21 Joao Cristovan, 22 Chris van der Merwe, 23 Bartlo Nel.

Paarl Boys' High: 15 Nicolas Carstens, 14 Wilhelm Barnard, 13 Manuel Ras, 12 Hanri van Heerden, 11 Urgene Johannes, 10 Rayhaan Lombaard, 9 Cameron Dorfling, 8 Khanya Ncusane, 7 Ruan van der Merwe, 6 Charl Serdyn, 5 Ewie Loubser, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Adam Neethling, 2 Daniel Jooste, 1 Reece Bezuidenhout.

Replacements: 16 Wilhelm Barnard, 17 MJ Strauss, 18 Vian Fourie, 19 Francke Horn, 20 Michael Visser, 21 Gerdré Ferreirra, 22 Henry Chamberlain, 23 Riaan Barnard, 24 Johan Serdyn.

Parktown: 15 Darron Solomon, 14 Lelethu Mahlangeni, 13 Madosha Tambwe, 12 Tyler Murray, 11 Thando Mabasa, 10 Ethan Anderson, 9 Matthew van Huysteen, 8 Ethan Frasca, 7 Jonathan Stafford, 6 Lesiba Molopa, 5 Che Carpede, 4 Warrick Lang, 3 Liam Clay, 2 Darnell Osuagwu, 1 Nkosikhona Masuku.

Replacements: 16 Makasizwe Hlatswayo, 17 Refilwe Pooe, 18 Neo Bosman, 19 Patrick Ndebele, 20 Junior Nthlane, 21 Ronald Tselane, 22 Wonga Matubatuba, 23 Christopher Seymour.

Paul Roos: 15 Joshua Vermeulen, 14 David-Ley Moses, 13 Dylan de Villiers, 12 Lyle Hendriks, 11 Aidan Lombard, 10 Damian Willemse (captain), 9 Gerado Jaars, 8 Jesse Johnson, 7 Johan Joubert, 6 Hans Koetsier, 5 Phillip van Dyk, 4 Ben-Jason Dixon, 3 Pieter Nel, 2 Daneel Steinman, 1 Cameron Dawson.

Replacements: 16 Juan-Marc Fryer, 17 Martin Louw, 18 Tristan Leitch, 19 Corné Wium, 20 Bruce Coetzee, 21 Tiaan Coetzee, 22 Cobus Joubert, 23 WJ Smit.

St John's College: 15 Francois Joubert, 14 Joseph Kamangu, 13 Bongani Molale, 12 Quintus Kilbourn, 11 Herman Lubega, 10 Kieran Houlston, 9 Wim Burger, 8 Julian Zille, 7 Nicholas Cambanis, 6 Phillip Mparutsa, 5 David McAlphine, 4 James Braham, 3 William Kumwenda, 2 Sibya Sibya (captain), 1 Damien Henwood.

Replacements: 16 Brayden Loxton, 17 Gabriel Kritzinger, 18 Conor Woodward, 19 Conor Pearce, 20 Ronan Grobler, 21 Callum McCormack, 22 Lex Slabbert, 23 Henri van der Walt.

Viadana (Italy): 15 Joshua Liam May, 14 Francesco Galeotti, 13 Mattia Giovanni, 12 Filippo Panizzi, 11 Diego Favagrossa, 10 Micheli Francesco, 9 Pietro di Stefano, 8 Luca Bondioli, 7 Edoardo Fava, 6 Patrick Boroni, 5 Brad Calcagno, 4 Giacomo Bonfiglio (captain), 3 Maicol Gozzi, 2 Francesco Galeotti, 1 Nicolas Domeneghini.