Graeme and Nico Malan Draw
Both groups were brilliantly hosted, and a great day of rugby was enjoyed by everybody. Grey proved a little too strong for the young Graemians, with only the Under-13B's walking away with a win. All games were well contested and Grey had to fight hard for their wins.
Graeme won the 1st XI Hockey match on Friday afternoon, sneaking past Nico Malan with a 2-1 victory. The Junior squash boys also enjoyed much success on their mini-tour inland. They won both their match against Queens Junior and Balmoral 10-0.
The rugby fixtures in the Senior School were tightly contested and was enjoyed by all. The Graeme Under-16 side was brought down to earth after Nico Malan had outplayed them on the day, winning 17-0. Nico Malan proved too strong in most of the junior games. As usual, the Graeme 2nd XV were superb, and scrapped doggedly for their 7-3 win. Throughout the day, the two evenly matched schools, battled against each other in a number of closely contested matches; this culminated in a similar fashion with a 12-12 draw between the 1st XV teams.
Graeme College once again got off to a good start in the match as they held onto the ball for long periods of time. They applied huge amounts of pressure on Nico Malan’s defensive line which stood strong. Unfortunately for Graeme, all their hard work was undone by costly mistakes on the Nico Malan try-line and therefore they were unable to turn pressure into points. Nico Malan were the complete opposite as they only managed to enter the Graeme College half twice, but came away with two tries, of which one was converted. One try came from a good maul and the other from a number of ‘pick and goes’ from the forwards.
In the second half, Graeme made a conscious decision to fight fire with fire and take on the big Nico Malan pack. It was not long before they were rewarded for doing so, as a quick tap led to a try which was also converted. Graeme scored another try from the forwards running hard off the scrumhalf, this time it was not converted. With 8 minutes left in the game Nico Malan finally saw some ball which led to a kickable penalty which was missed.
The final score was 12-12 but Graeme will feel unlucky to have not won the match – one they had dominated the most part of. Unfortunately, Graeme missed vital opportunities in their pointless first half and they also had two tries disallowed, which might have gone the other way on a different day. Likewise, Nico Malan were awarded a penalty in front of the poles in the dying minutes of the game, which was not converted. So it was very much a match, of missed opportunities.
It was a good day and Graeme will look forward to hosting Nico Malan in Grahamstown in 2017.
Summary of Results:
Senior School
1st XV: Draw 12-12
2nd XV: Graeme won 7-3
3rd XV: Nico Malan won 15-10
Under-16 A: Nico Malan won 17-0
Under-16B: Graeme won 47-0
Under-15 A: Nico Malan won 24-14
Under-15B: Draw 12-12
Under-14A: Nico Malan won 25-8
Under-14B: Nico Malan won 38-0
From Graeme College
