After a tightly contested first half, Grey High took control with three tries after the break to defeat Dale 33-12 in an entertaining schools rugby encounter at the Philip field in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
With a try on the stroke of half time, the hosts took a 14-12 lead and then used a suffocating defence to keep the dangerous Dale backs in check as they piled on the pressure in the second half.
The Dalians were full of ideas and intent on playing the game at pace, with forwards and backs often combining well to keep the Grey defensive system on full alert.
They demonstrated their incisiveness when, admittedly against 14 men after a Grey yellow card, they broke through twice in the space of five minutes to build a 12-7 lead.
First slippery flyhalf Ikho Putini cut through the defence for a try, followed five minutes later by a quick tap which turned defence into attack.
Grey conceded a penalty and smart thinking by the Dalians saw a move from deep in their own 22-metre area result in a try under the poles at the opposite end by scrumhalf Thando Zoki, with Siphamandla Krwege adding the conversion.
Grey, however, applied pressure of their own to snatch back the lead when Warwick Griffin barged over in the 35th minute, adding to Ryan Adams’s try in the 12th minute.
Although Dale tried hard to maintain their intensity in the second half, the Grey defenders were up to speed with their running tactics and solid tackling proved to be the hallmark of their game.
This allowed them to pressure the Dale defence and it resulted in tries by Corne Slabbert, Liyema Matyolweni and Antonio May as they took command of the proceedings. Flyhalf LJ du Preez added four conversions.
Brandwag v H’dorp
Humansdorp Secondary should remember it as the one that got away when they were pipped 31-20 by Brandwag in the last minutes of their schools rugby match in Uitenhage on Saturday.
Brandwag scored five tries to two, but the numbers flatter the home side’s lacklustre performance.
The visitors played with gusto and, had they not kicked possession away in the first half and squandered penalties in the second, they might have pulled off a huge upset. The first try was scored after nine minutes by Brandwag hooker Zuki Sali.
The home side crossed the tryline twice more, but Humansdorp defenders swarmed around and held the ball up.
After half an hour of play, eighthman Jarred Barnard dived over to extend the home side’s lead to 14-0, but there was more action to come.
Within five minutes, Humansdorp added a penalty by centre Edwin Fleur and wing Jose Kettledas scored against the run of play after an intercept by flyhalf Jimulo Damons.
By half time, Brandwag’s 14-point lead had shrunk to 14-10.
Early in the second half, Fleur added another penalty and, minutes later, flank Anthonio Kriga found a gap for a converted try and the visitors took a 20-14 lead.
In what remained of the game, Humansdorp missed a penalty, bungled another with an ill-conceived quick tap and kicked a third over the sideline within touch.
It was three get-out-of-jail-free cards for Brandwag, who responded with a try by wing Octavian Muller and regained a narrow 24-20 lead with another try by centre Monre Fourie.
In the dying minutes, Brandwag added an air of respectability to the final score with a try by replacement prop Tiaan du Toit.