Kearsney, Day 3: Results & Reports
At the end of the festival two teams remained unbeaten - Selborne College from East London and Glenwood High School from Durban. Glenwood won each one of its three matches. Selborne won two and then drew with SACS in its third match.
Dale College went into the final day unbeaten, but were overpowered 32-5 by Glenwood in their third day clash. Hosts Kearsney were also unbeaten until Monday, but went down 22-10 to HTS Middelburg in the final fixture of the festival. Middelburg’s win against the hosts was their only victory at the event.
The three-day event was well supported with excellent crowds who were able to enjoy a high standard of competitive rugby in good weather.
Results at a Glance
Day 3
SACS vs Selborne, 10-10
Framesby vs Noord-Kaap, 66-17
Dr EG Jansen vs Maritzburg College, 47 -8
Glenwood vs Dale, 32-5
Kearsney vs HTS Middelburg
Day 1 Results
Dale vs Maritzburg College, 25-16
Glenwood vs Dr EG Jansen, 14-13
Kearsney vs Noord-Kaap, 57-10
SACS vs Framesby, 19-13
Selborne vs HTS Middelburg, 22-12
Day 2 Results
Dale vs Framesby, 46-17
Dr EG Jansen vs Noord-Kaap, 40-17
Glenwood vs HTS Middelburg, 17-6
Kearsney vs SACS, 39-36
Selborne vs Maritzburg College, 18-7
Match Reports
Match 1: SACS vs Selborne, 10-10
SACS, the oldest school in South Africa, playing against Selborne College from East London, spent most of the first half in Selborne's territory. The second half was played mainly between the two 22m areas. The eventual 10-all draw was probably a fair reflection of a very intense clash.
A tight first half saw SACS leading 7-0 at half-time. It took Selborne 12 minutes before they played out of their half, but too many mistakes and a good defence by SACS prevented Selborne making any in-roads on SACS.
Two relatively easy penalties were missed which may have put SACS 13 points in front.
Then eighthman Alex Halvorsen was on the outside of a line movement and he had a clear run to the Selborne line. The extra points were added by flyhalf Kyle Boyd for the seven points.
A penalty by Jordy Hop early in the second half put SACS 10-0 in front. This was followed a little later by a penalty kicked by Jason Raubenheimer to open Selborne's score.
The second half saw Selborne improving in their defence and handling, but SACS defence did not waver until four minutes from the end when Selborne prop
Scorers
For SACS:
Try: Alex Halvorsen
Con: Kyle Boyd
Pen: Jordy Hop
For Selborne:
Try: Leon Lyons
Con: Jason Raubenheimer
Pen: Jason Raubenheimer
Squads
SACS: Connor O’Reilly, Duncan Ferguson, James Brewer (captain), Lance Steytler, Cameron Laurenson, Thomas Robinson, Liam Larkan, Vusile Dlepu, Aaron Zeederberg, Alex Halvorsen, Kyle Boyd, Nick Redelinghuys, Jordy Hop, Michael Abrahams, Azriel Coleman, Justin Bendeman, Zolani Masembathe, Josh Hay, Jordan Dobie, Kyle Coles, Stuart Wishart, David Hayes, Chad van der Loo
Selborne: Sande Msengana, Leon Lyons, Storme Snelling, Mila Bomela, Brandon du Toit, Alex Greig, Adam Mountfort, James Bruce, Musawenkosi Sili, Darren Lemmer, Sibahle Kuhlane, David Coetzer, Luke Dalbock, Joshua Armstrong, Onthatile Mavuso, Cameron Moodie, Nathan George, Sango Xamlashe, André Rust, Sisonke Mbadlanyana, Mitchell Connellan, Jason Raubenheimer, Miles Norton
Match 2: Framesby vs Noord-Kaap, 66-17
The second match on the final day of the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival saw Framesby from Port Elizabeth taking on Kimberley’s Hoerskool Noord-Kaap, both teams having their two festival games so far.
Framesby gradually got stronger as the game progressed. They were quicker to the loose ball, missed fewer tackles and were superior competing at the breakdown. It took just three minutes before Framesby opened the scoring with a penalty by fullback Riaan van Rensburg. He added another penalty for Framesby to lead 6-0.
Going into the final quarter of the first half, Noord-Kaap put their first points on the board with a penalty by fullback Cameron Hufke.
Framesby then dominated the last few minutes of the half, scoring two tries. The first of these was by flank Bernard McDonald from a lineout and the second by prop Viaan Wolmarans, both converted by Van Rensburg. On the stroke of half-time, Van Rensburg converted a penalty for a 23-3 lead as they went into the break.
Dominance in the second half kept Framesby on attack as they scored another eight tries to eventually win the game. Noord-Kaap seemed to have no answer to the waves of attack by the Framesby backs, and they were a disconsolate side.
But the boys from Kimberley did have the final say with two tries - by flyhalf Chadwin November and centre Deon van Niekerk - converted by Hufke, for Framesby to eventually win 66-17.
Scorers
For Framesby:
Tries: Riaan van Rensburg, Julian Kleyn, Desmick Kleinbooi, Bernard McDonald 2, Viaan Wolmarans, Stefan Verwey, Izak Marais, Keegan Tait
Cons: Riaan van Rensburg 6
Pens: Riaan van Rensburg 3
For Noord-Kaap:
Tries: Deon van Niekerk, Chadwin November
Cons: Cameron Hufke 2
Pen: Cameron Hufke
Squads
Framesby: Desmick Kleinbooi, Louis Strydom, Miqual de Allende, Juandré Kritzinger, Keegan Tait, Julian Kleyn, Stefan van der Poel, Roelof Roodt, William Duckitt, Wihan Alberts, Ruben le Roux (captain), Bernard Macdonald, Leslie Sharp, Riaan van Rensburg, Carl Senyane, Stefan van Rooyen, Viaan Wolmarans, Stefan Verwey, Izak Marais, Michael Whittock, Keanu du Plessis, JP Greyling, Willem-Adriaan Odendaal
Noord-Kaap: Edrich Brand, Marc Aitken, Byron Qupa, Rian Kotze (captain), Ethan Williams, Kofi Yinkah, Alexander Engelbrecht, Wynand Bester, Deon van Niekerk, Rory Leijdekkers, Lloyd Mostert, Juandrè Smit, Ruan Schultz, Cameron Hufke, Justin Murphy, Hendro Stassen, Christopher Andrews, Conrad van Aswegen, Juan-Ray Cloete, Hendro Stassen, Darryl Waterboer, Chadd Adams, Josè George, Maurice Amerika
Match 3: Dr EG Jansen vs Maritzburg College, 47-8
The KwaZulu-Natal side Maritzburg College, who had not yet won at the festival, were again on the losing end. They were playing EG Jansen who had a definite advantage in both size and pace,. College let themselves down by missing vital tackles. As the game progressed, so EG Jansen used their pace to good effect. But College’s tackling improved in the second half.
For the first quarter College kept EG Jansen at bay, except for their first try which was scored following a College mistake when prop Rehann Baumann barged over under the poles, converted by Ginter Smuts for a 7-0 lead. College’s fullback Ruben van Blerk converted a penalty to narrow the gap.
It was then an EG Jansen show. Whenever College got close to the EG Jansen line, they were repelled and Jansen were back on attack. EG Jansen were quick to act on College mistakes and the missed tackles proved costly. Jansen scored another four tries before the break, all converted by Smuts to lead 35-3 at the break.
College tackling improved as they prevented EG Jansen from scoring more than two tries in the next quarter. Smuts missed one conversion to leave Jansen 47-3 in front going into the last quarter.
The second half was a better showing by College, giving away the two tries, but scoring one of their own by centre Ayanda Duma for the final loss of 8-47; but 5-12 in the second half.
Scorers
For Dr EG Jansen:
Tries: Quinton Beaton, Ruben Beytel, Rehaan Baumann, Francois du Preez, André van der Merwe, Dwayne Zeelie, Ginter Smuts
Cons: GinterSmuts 6
For Maritzburg College:
Try: Ayanda Duma
Pen: Ruben van Blerk
Squads
Dr EG Jansen: Rehaan Bauman, André van der Merwe, Francois du Preez, Werner Fourie (captain), André Meyer, Werner Landman, Ruben Roodt, Ginter Smuts, Franklin Wagner, Carson Koekemoer, Ruben Beytel, Henry Pike, Lee-Irvin Andries, Romano Jonkeman, Gerhard van der Nest, Quinton Beaton, Janus Venter, Janus Swanepoel, Rynhardt Venter, Dylan Engelbrech, Cameron Crous, Dwayne Fourie, Dwayne Zeelie, Dian Ferreira
Maritzburg College: Matthew King, Andrew Reintges, Durang Atembe, Austin Landman, Nicholas Odendaal, Andile Khanyile, Matthew Diedricks, Lodewyk Muller, Jerome Gengan, Craig Glover (captain), Ruben van Blerk, Cameron Hope, Njabulo Mjara, Pelelani Zuma, Chris Reed, Xolisa Guma, Fezo Mbatha, Thuba Nzimande, Miles Hancock, Luke Johnson, Ross Williamson, Ayanda Duma
Match 5: HTS Middelburg vs Kearsney, 22-10
The final match was between unbeaten hosts Kearsney College and HTS Middelburg. After losing their first two games at the festival, Middelburg came on determined to do better. This they did by outmuscling Kearsney in the tight-loose and showing great commitment with the ball in hand.
Middelburg opened the scoring early in the game with a kick ahead which flank JC Pretorius touched down just ahead of the Kearsney defence. The conversion was wide but it gave the visitors an early 5-0 lead.
Halfway through the half after Kearsney had been under pressure, they broke out of their 22m area and a penalty was awarded which James Sutherland slotted to close the gap to 3-5.
Some good handing between backs and forwards ended with left wing Waldo Conradie showing great pace to go over in the corner and give Middelburg a 10-3 lead.
Despite intense pressure by the Middelburg forwards, Kearsney held on with committed tackling to prevent any further score before the break.
Five minutes into the second half, right wing Japie Kleynhans showed commitment to go over close to the corner. This time fly-half Riekert Barnard slotted the conversion to extend the lead to 17-3.
With four minutes remaining, Middelburg captain Pretorius scored his second try of the match by bursting through the defence in broken play. The conversion was missed but Middelburg had increased the lead to 22-3.
In the final minute, Kearsney No 8 Brady Erlich made a break getting close to the line but the ball was held up. However from the scrum thereafter flank Dylan Richardson dived over for the final try, which was converted by Sutherland.
Middelburg won the match 22-10, which was closer than the score suggested; but they made more of their chances to finish off the festival with a crowd-pleasing game.
Scorers
For Kearsney:
Try: Richardson
Con: James Sutherland
Pen: James Sutherland
For HTS Middelburg:
Tries: Japie Kleynhans, Waldo Conradie, JC Pretorius 2
Con: Riekert Barnard
Squads
Kearsney: David Weaver, Ross Taylor, Ayron Kayser, Cameron Ritchie, Kyle Mertsch, Greg van Noordwyk (captain), Stuart Lacon-Allin, Jared Meyer, Daniel Cherry, Ryan Lewarne, Luke Croshaw, Grant Sander, James Sutherland, Nic Hudson, Matthew Blair, Joshua Hagemann, Thulisa Shandu, Dylan Richardson, Warren Driver, Matthew Watts, Brady Erlich, Mitchell Garvie, Cameron Craze
HTS Middelburg: Marco Koch, Bernard de Wet, Waldo Conradie, Wian Neethling, Riekert Barnard, Boet Heyl, Andries Koen, Ryan Cloete, JP Cilliers, Leon Etsebeth, Japie Kleynhans, Duart Willemse, Henco van Heerden, Tiaan de Beer, Justin Le Roux, Zander Joubert, Barend van Rensburg, Armando Lubbe, Masen van Der Wath, Heinrich Cronjé, Ruben Cross, Trevor Swanepoel, JC Pretorius (captain)
Photo: Alex Halvorsen on his way to a try.