Graeme's Season's Swansong
It is always sad to reach the end of a Winter season. Nothing brings together a school better than a Winter derby fixture, and to have one as old as Muir is an incredible way to end the season.
The hockey team kicked the derby off with an emphatic 10-0 win, but far more important than that, was the development of this group of players. This squad has established a positive hockey culture and left a legacy for others to follow. It has been a great season playing against the very best teams, and we are quite proud to end ranked 35th in the country.
The Graeme College rugby community would have been equally delighted to have a clean sweep over their rivals from Uitenhage. The senior school dominated the derby winning all ten matches. There were some intense encounters, culminating with a 41-12 win for the 1st XV. That meant Graeme held on to the Buco trophy between the schools for the sixth consecutive year.
The first half was a tight affair as Graeme were made to work for their points from the visitors Muir College. Graeme scored three tries in the first half whilst Muir College managed three penalties to make the half time score 19-9. Even though Graeme dominated most of possession they struggled to capitalize as they made unforced errors and therefore at halftime one felt the game was still in the balance.
Muir converted another penalty early in the second half to make the score 19-12. With 20 minutes to play, the game was still on, but Graeme was at their best in the last quarter as they started to capitalise on the pressure they had created. They managed to run in another four tries to make the final score 41-12.
The junior school fixtures were far more tightly contested with results evenly shared and Muir grabbing the bragging rights with five wins. Probably the highlight for Graeme, was that the impressive Under-13C side ended their season unbeaten, after their victory today.
By Gregg van Mollendorff
His weekly contribution is most gratefully received, its regularity and positivity much admired.
