Affies pip brave College
WRAP: Affies and Jeppe flexed their attacking muscles to start the second phase of the schoolboy season with a bang.
School teams in the north, east and central regions all returned to action this past weekend, while a lot of fixtures in the Western Cape were cancelled or postponed due to the heavy storms in the province.
This precluded some of the better teams from the Cape, such as the unbeaten Paul Roos side and two Paarl heavyweights. Grey College, another top-ranked outfit, had a bye.
As a result, Affies and a couple of other schools in the northern parts of the country dominated the chat in the schoolboy forums, following their wins at the weekend.
Only hours before the Test series decider between the Springboks and Ireland at Kings Park, Hoérskool Rustenburg claimed a 27-24 over Glenwood in Durban on Saturday.
The visiting side missed several attempts from the tee over the course of the game before Aviwe Alberts stepped up to slot the winning penalty in injury time.
The game at Maritzburg College was similarly close.
While College have blown hot and cold over the course of the season, they have won four of their six matches at home. On Saturday, they came within one play of recording another win against the form side from Pretoria.
In the final minute, however, Ruben Pienaar kicked a penalty to steer Affies to a 39-37 victory, and a tone for last year’s defeat.
Up in Gauteng, KES beat Pretoria Boys 18-5 to bounce back from a 26-52 defeat to Affies in late May.
KES have been one of the strongest Johannesburg sides on show, although they struggled against top teams like Grey College, Boishaai and Affies earlier in the season.
Jeppe have captured the imagination of schoolboy rugby fans since scoring an upset win against Grey College in March.
They made a statement this past weekend when they travelled to Monument in Krugersdorp and scored seven tries in a 47-31 victory, with Sanele Simelane (the younger brother of Stormers centre Wandisile) bagging a brace.
Whether they can carry that momentum through to the next match against KES remains to be seen. Jeppe lost the recent derby 28-38 (at home), and may have a point to prove in the second leg.
Meanwhile, in the Noordvaal Cup, Waterkloof edged Helpmekaar 31-29 to extend their unbeaten run to 11 games (10 wins, one draw).
The biggest test of their quality will come next week when they tackle Affies at home in what should be an absorbing Pretoria derby.
Some of the big guns of South African schoolboy rugby will return to action next week and will be expected to fire.
Grey College will host Grey High (who recently lost 17-19 to Framesby) in Bloemfontein.
Paul Roos will tackle a struggling Bishops, while Paarl Gym face a potentially tricky visit to Wynberg.
