St Andrew’s thrash Graeme

Favourites going into the match, St Andrew’s emerged triumphant in their FNB Classic Clash schools rugby clash against Graeme College in Grahamstown on Saturday, winning 34-14.

Graeme started well by applying some tactical pressure through the boot of Mark Amm. This finally paid off as they mauled over from 5m out to take an early 7-0 lead.

Graeme had two penalty opportunities to extend this lead, but both chances went astray. It was not long, however, before St Andrew’s hit their straps and started to apply pressure on the Graeme line.

They dominated the last 15 minutes of the first half to score three tries for a 17-7 lead at the break.

Graeme will, however, be disappointed at how little they made their opponents work for those tries.
The home side started the second half just as they had finished the first – dominating territory and starving the Graemians of the ball.

St Andrew’s scored another two tries to pull away from their opponents.

Graeme did not give up and managed to score in the last play of the game, making the final score 34-14 to St Andrew’s.

Arnouw Nel stood out in the Graeme side, and showed great tenacity, but it was not enough to overcome St Andrew’s on the day.

St Andrew’s tries came from Charlie Fleming, Guy Rushmere, William McAdam, Matthew Hilary and Buhle Matshaya.

The Graeme junior teams won all six matches against St Andrew’s Prep, culminating in a 31-5 win in the U13A game.

The senior school found it a contrasting day, despite Graeme starting the day with wins in the U14A and fifth team games.

HOCKEY

The derby started with six hockey games in midweek, culminating with the first team match.

The first team shaped up as a competitive contest as Graeme have come a long way over the last 18 months, with some credible performances to their name.

To match St Andrew’s, however, was always going to be tough. In a scrappy match, neither team managed to play their best hockey.

Graeme managed to hold on and at least make St Andrew’s scrap for the result. The terrible weather conditions did not help either.

Despite St Andrew’s having a number of opportunities, Graeme were delighted to go into the break at 0-0, having some good chances of their own.

The second half saw St Andrew’s pile on the pressure and Graeme seemed to be struggling more and more.

Eventually, a moment of brilliance by Peter Jarvis opened up the game as he calmly and clinically laid off a pass to expose the Graeme defence.

St Andrews followed up with two more goals in the second half to win 3-0.