Rugby News from Grey High Festival – Day 1 and 2 Reports
Dramatic finish as Michaelhouse snatch draw against Grey
Michaelhouse struck dramatically after the final hooter had gone to stun hosts Grey High as they snatched a 28-28 draw on the opening day of the Standard Bank Grey Rugby Festival in Gqeberha on Saturday.
Trailing 28-23 at that stage, the KwaZulu-Natal side stayed in the hunt with a series of penalties and eventually they created space out wide for centre Rourke O’Sullivan to go over for the equalising try.
It was left to fullback Alex Jankowitz to try to win the match with a successful conversion but his effort fell short and it ended all square.
Exciting Rugby on the Kolisi field
The day was marked by some thrilling rugby on the Kolisi Field, with Durban High School fullback Cilermo Carolus one of the outstanding players as he jinked his way through the Kingswood defence for a hat-trick of tries in their 41-20 win.
Kearsney had a tense showdown with Pretoria Boys’ High, scoring the winning try with three minutes left to win 28-26, while Queen’s and St Stithians got the festival off to a thunderous start in a 13-13 draw.
Meanwhile, the Grey supporters were left scratching their heads when they failed to close out the win over Michaelhouse after receiving a penalty following the sounding of the final hooter.
Grey flyhalf Tristan Kemp tapped the ball and kicked it into touch, obviously believing the match was over, but the referee ruled that play should continue.
In courageous fashion, Michaelhouse seized the moment to work their way downfield to set up the winning try.
After conceding an early try to centre William Ridl, Grey led for most of the match and were 14-7 ahead at the break through tries by Evan Mucka and Adam Holmboe.
Their opponents stayed in the match through the immaculate boot of Jankowitz (three penalties and two conversions) and the result was always in the balance.
Eventually Grey seemed to put some daylight between them and their rivals when they scored their fourth try from a forward surge to lead 28-16 with just more than 10 minutes remaining.
Michaelhouse, however, must be admired for showing tenacity under pressure. They repeatedly found a way to attack the Grey line and this opened the way for a try by scrumhalf Daniel Aissing, which reduced the margin to five points.
Then came the dramatic finale for the match to end in ecstasy for the visitors and agony for the hosts.
The play of DHS fullback Carolus was one of the day’s highlights as he used his magic feet to blow Kingswood away in the space of seven minutes with a three-try blitz.
At that stage, in the 40th minute, the match was evenly poised at 15-15, but it was changed to 34-15 in almost the blink of an eye and it set up a lead Kingswood had little chance of closing.
The match between Kearsney and Pretoria Boys’ also went down to the wire Kearsney wing Lwandle Mkhize scoring an excellent try in the closing minutes, converted by Doan Nel, to put them 28-26 ahead.
The Pretoria side had a penalty in the final minute to snatch back the lead, but it was not successful as Kearsney celebrated.
The Day 1 results were:
Queen’s 13 St Stithians 13
Northwood 24 Dale 0
Kearsney 28 Pretoria Boys’ High 26
Hilton 27 Graeme College 17
DHS 41 Kingswood 20
Westville 45 Selborne 12
Grey High 28 Michaelhouse 28
St Charles 19 Port Rex 15
Hudson Park 36 Muir 15
Daniel Pienaar 31 Ithembelihle 13
Day 2 Report
Grey High finished the Standard Bank Grey High Rugby Festival on a winning note when they defeated Hilton College 20-7 in the final showdown on Monday afternoon in Gqeberha.
With a stiff south-easterly blowing down the ground, precision play was not always achieved but both sides gave it their all to bring the curtain down on another highly successful showcase of schoolboys rugby.
In the main curtain-raiser, Bishops and Michaelhouse also produced a titanic effort, with the former just managing to forge ahead in the critical moments to take the bragging rights with a 25-17 result.
The critical score in the Grey-Hilton clash came with just less than 10 minutes remaining when flyhalf Tristan Kemp showed great footwork to dodge and twist his way over the line, just next to the posts.
Hilton had the wind behind them in the second half, but Grey, besides conceding one try, did a good job of cancelling out that advantage.
RELEASED BY:
Neale Emslie Cell: 071 850 0865 Email: [email protected]
On behalf of: Grey High School
