Article: Greg Cohen
Day 1 greeted us with beautiful conditions at St Stithians College. St Andrews and St Albans had the honor of starting off the tournament in a very competitive affair. St Albans held on for the majority of the game but ultimately could not subdue the men from Makhanda in the Eastern Cape. St Andrews won 29-15. The match of the day, in my opinion, was the next one up – Michaelhouse vs Maritzburg College. Maritzburg College were tipped as a “generational” outfit whilst Michaelhouse would have been disappointed to go down to St Andrews at the Grey High Festival last time out.
The first half was a see-saw battle with Maritzburg ahead 20-19 going into the drinks break. Michaelhouse opened their second half account after sleek hands from Davis and Mlaba put right wing Luke Hoekstra in the corner in under sixty seconds. Eight minutes later they were over again through number eight, Mlaba. Maritzburg would not back down, two tries later from their fullback and it was a one point game with four minutes left. Michaelhouse held on to win the KZN Derby, 33-32.
Host St Stithians were made to work extremely hard for their victory against Clifton College. Clifton never gave up and would have felt like they ran out of time going down 15-10 to a well drilled Saints team. Cape Town boys, Wynberg took on Parktown from Johannesburg in the next game. Fresh off a tough contest against giants Paarl Gim, Wynberg were looking to impress. They did just that going ahead 28-0 at half time and ended up 49-7 victors.
Bishops vs Grey High closed the day in an arm wrestle of a match. Bishops resorted to using wrecking ball, Bruce Sherwood frequently with their outside back having limited opportunity in the opening half. Bishops crossed twice to go into the break 12-3 up. Grey came back going ahead 20-17 after individual brilliance from Titus on the wing. Aidan Norris put Bishops back ahead with a powerful run from close range. The Capetownians sealed the game when an outside back gathered the ball from a loose Grey pass and sprinted 60m to score. Final score 31-20 to Bishops.
Day 2 opened up with Grey High School getting over St Albans in a rallied display from Day 1. St Albans did not let the eastern cape boys have it their own way but Grey ultimately came away 34-19 victors. In a closely fought game St Andrews beat Wynberg 13-12 in a tight contest between two very evenly matched teams. St Andrews going two from two at Saints so far. The Durbanites, Clifton were up next against Parktown. In a free flowing game where the ball was allowed to go wide on occasion Clifton secured a 20-14 win over the men from Johannesburg. Bishops came up against Maritzburg College next up in what was billed as a game to watch. Maritzburg started strong but Bishops weathered the storm and flexed their muscles to take the victory 31-10 over the men from KZN. Michaelhouse would have been quietly confident after their victory on Day 1 when they took on hosts St Stihians in the final game. Their confidence was well founded and dismissed the hosts 36-3 in a one sided encounter.
Day 3 kicked off with Wynberg showing they will be a force to be reckoned with going into the Western Cape League beating Clifton 41-0 in a polished performance. Bishops vs Parktown next was tipped as a one sided encounter but Parktown were having none of it and held onto the men from Cape Town for large portions of the game, of which they can use as a foundation to build on going forward. In worsening conditions running rugby was scarce but Bishops managed to cross the line four times to Parktowns one – winning 26-10. Grey High against Maritzburg next promised to be fun and it certainly delivered with both team eager to end the festival on a high not.
Grey went into the break with a try on the stroke of half time leading 24-12. Martizburg came out like men possessed in the second half and with ten minutes left lead 26-24. A magical running line from Bester of College saw him run 50m to score under the poles putting College ahead 33-24. Both teams traded penalties to make it 36-27 and that is how it ended. Maritzburg showed patches of brilliance and will be keen to take that form into the KZN League Fixtures.
Next up the men from Balgowan, Michaelhouse took on St Albans College. Michaelhouse this festival looked like a totally different team to the one at the Grey Festival a few weeks ago and ran in 37 points to St Albans 9 in a strong performance. To close out a fantastic festival St Andrews played hosts St Stithians. St Andrews made it three from three at the festival winning 50-7 against the hosts. From here St Andrews go on the Selborne 150th Jubilee Festival where they will be Rondebosch and Brandwag.
At the conclusion of the festival we named our team of the festival as follows:
15) Ayabona Zakwe (Michaelhouse)
14) Jacques Cloete (St Andrews)
13) Lili Bester (Maritzburg)
12) Bruce Sherwood (Bishops)
11) Luke Hoekstra (Michaelhouse)
10) Shaywan Blackenberg (Bishops)
9) Asad Moos (Wynberg)
8) Dwayne Mlaba (Michaelhouse)
7) Cayno February (Wynberg)
6) Fiekie Peterson (Bishops)
5) Kuhle Mtimkhulu (Maritzburg)
4) Aiden Norris (Bishops)
3) Ben Matthews (Wynberg)
2) Andrew Davis (Michaelhouse)
1) Liyabonga Matabielie (Grey High)
