Michaelhouse Triumph at Balgowan
Michaelhouse and Westville Boys’ High met at Balgowan for their 42nd encounter last Saturday in conditions near perfect for a festival of schoolboy rugby.
The visitors enjoyed a great start to the day with their age group teams dominating on the pitch. The Michaelhouse youngsters were frequently found wanting on defence and basic skills were in short supply at pivotal points in the encounters. Westville would have gone into the afternoon on a high with their U14A team securing a 29-8 victory followed up by 36-0 and 38-8 wins for the U15A and U16A teams respectively.
By lunch time a small crowd was gathered around Meadows in anticipation of some entertaining open schoolboy rugby. The home teams came into their own to hold on for close wins with the Thirds clinching a 19-15 nailbiter and the Second XV holding on for a good 20-17 victory.
In the First XV encounter, the boys from Balgowan were keen to set the record straight following their close 17-21 loss in 2013 and quickly raced to a 15-3 lead. The second quarter was a closer affair with the teams going into half time with the visitors trailing 10-21.
The Westville boys hit the second half with more determination than in the first period, but for Michaelhouse the groundwork had been done with the educated boot of form flyhalf Bader Pretorius constantly keeping the scoreboard ticking over.
A try by Westville in the final movement of the game was just not enough to clinch the deal and the home side came away with a deserved 34-32 victory with tries by hooker Bradley Roberts, wing Jason Schwegmann and flyhalf Bader Pretorius to complete his full house of a try, two conversions, four penalties and a drop goal.
By Murray Witherspoon
