Bertram new fest champs

BERTRAM emerged as the Northern Areas High School Rugby Festival champions when they defeated Booysen Park 29-14 in an exciting and well-contested final at the Adcock Stadium on Saturday.

The eventual winners signalled their intentions from early in the tournament when they opened with a decisive 29-0 win over Sanctor, and they carried that momentum through the tournament.

Their clash with Booysen Park was full of running rugby as both sides opted to move the ball through the hands rather than rely on a kicking game, with a strong wind sweeping across the ground.

This resulted in a hectic finish when, with Bertram leading 22-14, both sides swung the ball at will to try to gain the ascendancy.

Eventually it was Diylou Tsazabani who received possession down the right side of the field and raced through the Booysen Park defence to set the seal on Bertram's win with a try under the posts.

Immediately after the successful conversion, the final whistle blew and the Bertram squad celebrated in style.

They scored other tries through Jerome de Bruyn, Richard Jantjies and Gerardo Arens.

It was a deserved win for the Bertram outfit, while Booysen Park emerged with credit as well, trying their best to close the gap until the final score.

Festival organiser Shaun Fondling said the tournament had been another huge success.

"The interest in the rugby from the pupils has been massive and it has been another successful tournament for northern areas schools' rugby," Fondling said.

The tournament followed the Makro Sevens event, played last month, while the northern areas schools will now begin preparing for their league matches, which will be played on Wednesday afternoons, starting in the second term. - Neale Emslie