August 24th, 2009

The local schoolboy season drew to a close on a sunny but chilly morning. The traditional end-of-season derby between Wynberg Boy’s High and the South African College High School (SACS) was a close fought encounter, which saw Wynberg pushed all the way by a determined SACS side before finally running out 32 -20 winners.

The second oldest school in the country after their archrivals SACS, Wynberg have had their best season in their long history. They have only lost two games locally to Boland Landbou and Diocesan College (Bishops) and three to Eastern Cape rivals, Grey (PE) twice and Dale College at the Cape Schools Week. Playing at home and having won the first round fixture 20-nil they went into the game overwhelming favourites.

They seemed a little nervous though and struggled to get any rhythm going for most of the first half. SACS played well, dominated possession and territory and should have been ahead at halftime.

The kickers Kieran Goss and Matthew Mohle traded penalties early on but SACS had two good scoring opportunities that went a begging. First centre Godfrey Tundube made an outside break but held on when should have passed and later lock Douglas Mylrea broke clear around the side of a ruck. He raced clear but made the wrong option as he entered the Wynberg 22-metre area and the opportunity was lost.

Wynberg scored on their first foray into SACS territory. Mohle having a clearance kick charged down by flank Josh Katzen, who gathered and scored. Goss made no mistake with the conversion and Mohle replied with another penalty. Crucially though Mohle then missed two penalties, which would have seen SACS take the lead.

Instead Wynberg extended their lead when SACS kicked a high ball out of their half. Mohle chased the kick but took his eyes off the ball and tried to play the man. The ball bounced back into the SACS half and was gathered by the Wynberg forwards who broke up field and set up a ruck in the SACS 22-metre area. Wynberg threw the ball wide via Goss and centre Ezra Williams to fullback Craig Munro scored in the corner. Goss was unable to convert from out wide.

SACS made a vital score just before the interval after scrumhalf Chris Roberts broke blind and played inside to his captain and No. 8 Matthew Mellville. Mellville was inches away from scoring but when the ball went wide the Wynberg defence was caught napping. Flyhalf Kyran Hawkins jinked his way through for an important try, which Mohle converted to leave SACS trailing 13-15 at the halftime break.

The early stages of the second half didn’t deliver much excitement as the teams slugged it out between the two 22-metre lines. Roberts did have one nice break but his linking pass went forward. The game caught alight though in the last fifteen minutes.

Wynberg extended their lead when Goss hit the blindside from a ruck on the halfway line. He put leftwing Rameesh Mentor into space. Mentor beat his man and broke upfield. When scragged by the cover defence Mentor made a good pass inside to his fellow wing Zingisa Ndiki who finished in trademark bullocking style in the corner. 

SACS scored immediately from the kick-off as Wynberg botched a clearance kick. The kick skewed infield and was gathered by SACS left-wing Nicholas van der Westhuizen who cut back inside and managed to run the ball back into the Wynberg 22-metre area. Roberts broke blind and fed Tundube who timed his pass to Mellville perfectly. Mellville straightened nicely and found himself in space. He crashed over to score right in front of the SACS crowd and Mohle converted to tie the game up at 20-points a piece.

The SACS fan sensed an upset but their players let them down by making a hash of the kick-off and again gifting Wynberg the lead. Three SACS players converged on the ball but no one called. The ball bounced and Wynberg gathered and charged up field. Scrumhalf Dylan Frylinck broke blind and scored to break the hearts of the SACS faithful. Goss converted to take the game away from SACS.   

Wynberg weren’t finished though and scored again on the final whistle. Skipping the ball wide Mentor again beat his man before feeding fullback Craig Munro who sealed the win with his second try of the day. It was an exciting climax to a quality game in which both teams played their part in providing the large crowd with good entertainment.

Scorers:

Wynberg Boy’s High School

Tries: Craig Munro (2), Josh Katzen, Dylan Frylinck, Zingisa Ndiki

Conversions: Kieran Goss (2)

Penalty: Goss

South African College High School

Tries: Kyran Hawkins, Matthew Mellville

Conversions: Matthew Mohle (2)

Penalties: Mohle (2)

These moments were just some of the reasons why there is reason to be hopeful about the future of SACS rugby.

Thanks to Kathy Calder for the images she sent through.

The results against WBHS in the last round of matches for 2009 were a little disappointing, but given the disruptions of the weeks before, some teams can hold their heads high as they overcame the usual Wynberg determination. In particular, the U15 division again proved why they are a special group of men, winning 3 out of the 4 games played. The game that was lost in this age group was by 2 points only.

The first XV dished up a performance against the powerful Wynberg side that was worthy of the SACS colour and it was pleasing to see this game see saw to the end, where at one stage it could have gone either way.

 

Well done to all the players and coaches who gave up their time. This year saw some of the better results, at least since 2005 these have been statisitcally our best results across the teams. We need to build on this, and come back stronger. Enjoy the break.