Michaelhouse home against Kearsney
The 71st encounter between the two schools was played out in front of a large crowd on Meadows, and The spectacular late autumn weather, Michaelhouse Grandparents Day and the inaugural Michaelhouse Music Festival drew the numbers.
Spectators were treated to 70 minutes of total rugby and lovers of the game could not have asked for a more engaging spectacle of schoolboy rugby at its very best – the pace was frenetic from the start and neither team relented until the full-time whistle which sounded with Micahelhouse 27-24 victors.
Michaelhouse were first on the scoreboard through a penalty by flyhalf and 2014 Academy captain Bader Pretorius. Kearsney soon struck back by turning over possession to score a converted try.
Play rolled up and down the field with crisp passing, spectacular defence and total commitment until some individual brilliance by Michaelhouse left wing Victor Foster to break the deadlock.
With very little space to engineer his moment of magic, he dropped the ball onto his left boot to beat his defender before collecting a favourable bounce. With 45 metres still to cover and three defenders still to beat, it was sheer pace and elusive footwork which carried him across the try-line in the right hand corner for an unconverted try.
A penalty apiece took the sides into the break with Michaelhouse hanging on to a slender one point lead at 11-10.
The home side applied pressure from the outset of the second half, and Pretorius was able to convert this momentum into three successful penalty conversions. Replacement centre, Nicholas Herbert then chipped in with a try, also converted by Pretorius to extend the lead to 27-10.
The visitors were by no means dead and buried and in a display of character, ran in two converted tries when the floodgates could so easily have been opened instead.
The final eight minutes didn’t trouble the scoreboard but kept the crowd on the edge of their seats as desperate try-saving cover tackles and determined direct running drew the encounter to a close.
Michaelhouse made it five wins from five starts in 2015 with their hard fought 27-24 win over the boys from Botha’s Hill. What made the clash even more of a spectacle was that very rare situation of two modern schoolboy teams both coached by full time academic members of staff.
From Murray Witherspoon
