Grey beat Grey

For the very first time this season Grey College of Bloemfontein lost a match - to their namesakes, Grey High School of Port Elizabeth.

A warm, nearly windless August afternoon saw the Philip Field packed to the proverbial rafters, as our 1st XV met our brother school in a highly anticipated clash, the last fixture of an emotional Derby weekend.

Seemingly inspired, we drew first blood, a neatly struck Garrick Mattheus drop goal the first points of the match after a pleasing passage of direct play.

Shortly after Curwin Bosch fielded a poorly directed kick by our opponents in navy blue and set off down the touchline, in what is fast becoming his trade mark. His deft chip kick eluded the despairing cover defence as Bosch won the race to the ball and our first try in the right corner. The conversion by Mattheus was successful and we now led by 10 to nil.

Grey College hit back with a penalty of their own to trail by 10 points to 3.

The half became punctuated by promising passages of play, our resilient defence thwarting wave after wave of Grey College attack.

A promising passage of attack in the Grey College half saw Jeremy Ward receive some quickly recycled possession. A deft show-and-go allowed him to slip past two defenders before he scurried over to dot down in the left hand corner.  Mattheus nailed the difficult conversion and we led by 17 points to 3.

College’s 1st try came in the 20th minute, and star fullback Henry Immelman succeeded with the conversion to narrow our lead to 7 points. Thankfully Curwin Bosch was on target with a monster penalty with little time left in the first half, and that’s how the first stanza ended – 20 points to 10 in the favour of the Azure Blue.

College began the brighter of the two sides in the second half and Alex Jonker crossed for their second try, and the boys from Bloem were within striking distance of our score.

We began to play with greater assurance, and began to execute our game plan to perfection. College had little answer to our probing kicks into their half, as they were forced to return them and lose the tactical battle for territorial advantage.  

Fifteen minutes to go and it was fellow SA School’s representative Keanu Vers’s turn to put his stamp on the game – an unthinkably well-executed offload in contact close to the College try-line seeing Curwin Bosch over for his second try of the game and the home crowd into jubilation.

No match is ever over until the final whistle, and College began to attack with renewed vigour, scoring their third try with impeccable execution. Seven minutes remained and we led by seven points – some of the more experienced spectators in the crowd possibly experiencing flashbacks of how the hopes of the class of 2008 were snuffed out in the dying minutes of that match.

College camped in our half, and with the scoreboard clock at zero minutes left, Grey Bloem coughed the ball up metres from our line. The ball was banged into touch – but unbelievably the referee called for the line-out to take place. College began to maul up towards our line, before using their runners in channel one. Inspired defence repelled wave after wave of navy blue attack as time paced by at a glacial rate.

And then – the inevitable - a knock on and the final whistle. Delirious pandemonium - as the school stormed the field, 27 points to 20 and our first victory over our brother school in 10 years. Vaughn Jones would be proud – the perfect send off to a legendary schoolmaster after what was a very difficult week for all of us. Many thanks to all who cheered, and to our stand for a magnificent effort. 

Scorers:

For Grey High:

Tries:  Curwin Bosch 2, Jeremy Ward

Cons: Garrick Mattheus 3

Drop: Garrick Mattheus

Pen: Curwin Bosch

For Grey College

Tries: Julian Jordaan, Alex Jonker, Henry Slabbert.

Con:  Henry Immelman

Pen:  Henry Immelman

Teams:

Grey College of Bloemfontein: 15 Henry Immelman, 14 Jacques Grobler, 13 Niel Stannard, 12 Julian Jordaan, 11 Glen Erickson, 10 Wayne Wessels, 9 Dian Badenhorst, 8 Alex Jonker, 7 Werner Robberts, 6 De Wet Bezuidenhout, 5 Kassel Rothman, 4 Jurie Burger, 3 Janu Botha, 2 Henry Slabbert, 1 Callie van Vuuren

Grey High School of Port Elizabeth: 15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Mohamed Connelly, 13 Keanu Vers, 12 Jeremy Ward, 11 Athi Mayinje, 10 Garrick Mattheus,  9 Brody van Goeverden, 8 Josh Mudrovcic, 7 Junior Pokomela, 6 Johann van Niekerk, 5 Michael de Marco, 4 Kamva Dilima, 3 Dylan Barendse, 2 Robin Stevens, 1 Matthew Howes

From Fenner Barnard of Grey High