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A late penalty helped Brandwag pip Marlow 18-17 in Cradock in their annual rugby match on Saturday.
The teams were evenly matched and produced a nailbiting physical battle.
Neither had ascendency in the scrums and both produced solid, albeit mostly uncontested, work in the lineouts.
Marlow had the wind at their backs in the first half but not the upper hand.
Both teams managed a single unconverted try for a 5-5 halftime score.
After the break, Brandwag held the ball close to the forwards and mostly kept the boot at bay, despite having the wind at their backs.
The visitors suffered a telling blow when fullback and goal-kicker Dano Swart sustained a concussion after just 15 minutes in the second half.
Marlow scored two tries to Brandwag’s one in the second half and held a 17-15 lead until Brandwag snatched the victory with a penalty in the last moments of the game.
Left wing Hlomla Mabaza, hooker Leon Cordier and outside centre Troy Delport scored Marlow’s tries.
Delport succeeded with one conversion.
For Brandwag, prop Zuki Sali and eighth man Ryben du Pont scored tries.
Replacement kicker Ferdi Effenaar converted one try and kicked the winning penalty.
Before he left the field, Swart kicked one penalty.
The result over Marlow came after two successful tournament outings during the school holidays. As usual, Brandwag travelled to Riversdale for the Oakdale Festival and then, closer to home, they played one match in Grey High School’s Standard Bank Rugby Festival.
In Riversdale, Brandwag scored a convincing 53-24 victory against Voortrekker High (Bethlehem) before narrowly losing 13-12 to Diamandveld of Kimberley.
Five Brandwag players were included in the Mutual and Federal Agri XV team of the tournament.
They were hooker Gideon Serfontein, lock Jarred Comley, eighth man Ryben du Pont, flyhalf Tyron McCree and fullback Swart.
Serfontein and Swart were named the best forward and best back of the tournament.
Back in Port Elizabeth, Brandwag defeated Middelburg Tech 29-27 and then overcame St Benedict’s College 2219 at the Grey festival.
● Graeme College completed a successful period when they defeated Cambridge 36-19 at the weekend following three victories in the 125th Jubilee Kingswood Festival in Makhanda last week.
After opening with a comefrom-behind win over Clifton College in the Kingswood festival, the Graemians also defeated St George’s from Zimbabwe and the Lambs XV from the United Kingdom.
Framesby, meanwhile, were too strong for Daniel Pienaar, overpowering the home side 62-14 on Saturday, and will take an unbeaten record into the Kearsney Easter Festival this week.
There were hard-fought wins for Westering (29-24 over Andrew Rabie) and Nico Malan (36-29 against Langenhoven Gym).
Union High bounced back from their recent loss to Muir to defeat Victoria Park 45-17.