Big wins for schools
DANIEL Pienaar overcame a lacklustre first half to emerge with a convincing 32-8 victory over Pearson in a hard-fought schools rugby encounter in Uitenhage on Saturday.
Thanks to a fine try by hooker Francois Burden and a penalty from scrumhalf Nathan Augustus, the visitors led 8-7 at the break.
But Daniel Pienaar asserted their authority in the second half, running in four tries to secure the win.
The home side opened the scoring in the fifth minute when wing Jacques Steenberg crashed over, but Pearson fought hard to take the narrow half-time lead.
Six minutes into the second half, however, a defensive error by Pearson saw fullback Devan Davidson run 50m to put Daniel Pienaar back in front at 12-8.
From there they never looked back and, with Craven Week squad prop Luphumlo Mguca often prominent with some powerful surges, they crossed for tries by centre Damian George (2) and scrumhalf Luciano Grootboom to bury any lingering hopes Pearson had of a comeback.
Grey High v St Andrew's
GREY High shrugged off a spirited start from St Andrew's to crush their Grahamstown rivals 67-24 in a match full of running rugby at Grey's Philip field.
The visitors showed great enterprise in the backline, cracking the Grey defence twice in the first 19 minutes to score tries by Thomas Lane and Courtney Archer, running up a 12-3 lead.
However, from a scrum in their half, Grey flank and skipper Johann van Niekerk broke down the blindside to set up an excellent finish by hooker Robin Stevens, sparking a period of dominance as they shot out to a 20-12 lead.
St Andrew's scored once more to make it 20-17, but Grey again responded to make it 27-17 at half time.
The match then changed dramatically in an eight-minute burst at the start of the second half when Grey ran in three converted tries to run up a telling 48-17 lead.
St Andrew's kept trying hard and skipper Robert Ball took a gap for their fourth try.
Grey's tries came from Keanu Vers (2), Athi Mayinje (2), Garrick Mattheus (2), Stevens and Michael de Marco, plus a penalty try. Curwin Bosch added a conversion, while Mattheus kicked seven conversions and two penalties for a personal tally of 30 points. For St Andrew's, fullback Brendan Owen added two conversions to their four tries.
Otto du Plessis v Brandwag
UITENHAGE'S Brandwag eased to a 41-7 victory over Otto du Plessis in Algoa Park despite missing several key players, writes Alvin Reeves.
Playing without six injured regulars, Brandwag ran in six tries to one to overwhelm a spirited Otto side.
The visitors had the look of a team disrupted by injury for the first 35 minutes and Otto fought rabidly for any scrap of possession offered up.
But it was Brandwag who opened the scoring when talented flank Mornay Moos crashed over inside the first 10 minutes. Flyhalf Shevaan Hendricks converted.
On the half hour, and with Brandwag on attack, Otto centre Dyllan van Rensburg intercepted a pass and ran all of 70 metres to score under the posts. Fellow centre Johndré Swart added two points to level the score.
Brandwag regained the lead on the halftime whistle when right wing Jerome Botha touched down in the corner. Hendricks slotted the conversion. When the players returned for the second half, Brandwag had the advantage of the wind and Hendricks used his strong and accurate boot to keep his team on the attack.
It was a strategy that would result in four second-half tries for the visitors through lock Armand Ferreira (2), hooker Dandré Delport and flank Jack Thomas.
Hendricks added two more conversions and a penalty for a personal tally of 11 points.
Other scores
OTHER results were:
Graeme 59 Alex Road 13, Cambridge 10 Selborne 74, Despatch 0 Nico Malan 65, Hudson Park 18 Queen's 20, Kingswood 23 Dale 40, Grens 80 Stirling 3. - Neale Emslie
