Festival games show off youthful rugby prowess

BERTRAM and David Livingstone produced notable performances as the Northern Areas High Schools' Rugby Festival got off to a lively start at the Adcock Stadium yesterday.

The tournament continues today with further matches for the boys, while eight girls' sides will compete in a sevens tournament, with the grand finale taking place tomorrow.

The girls' sevens final at 4pm will be followed by a game between the Korsten Legends (over-40s) and the Bethelsdorp Legends at 4.30 before the boys' final at 5pm. Following their wins yesterday, Bertram and David Livingstone have placed themselves among the favourites, but there will be several sides determined to have their say on who contests the final.

Bertram proved too strong for Sanctor in their clash, taking a 10-0 lead into the second half and then adding a further 19 points after the break.

Even playing into a strong wind in the second half, Bertram's hard-running backs were too slick for their opponents and they cantered to a comfortable 29-0 victory.

Earlier, David Livingstone ran up 26 points without reply from St Thomas and they will be looking to extend that momentum today against Paterson High.

Unfortunately, Paterson were not in action yesterday as Chapman were not able to field a side and they will be hoping a lack of match practice does not adversely affect their chances against Livingstone.

It will be a tough game for both sides because last year they contested the final, only to end deadlocked at 10-10 and being forced to share the title.

In other matches yesterday, Booysen Park withstood an early onslaught from Hillside to run out 16-8 winners.

Hillside took an early lead through a penalty and constantly overpowered the Booysen Park forwards in the tight exchanges, but were not able to turn domination into points.

Morningside registered a good 19-5 win over Bethelsdorp in the opening game, while Walmer scored three tries to shade Westville 15-5. - Neale Emslie