Monnas, Klofies Beeld Final
All the finalists
There will be a new holder of the Beeld Trophy for Big Schools after Saturday's final between Waterkloof of Pretoria and Monument of Krugersdorp.
The holders Affies were knocked out in the quarterfinals.
Monnas had a tough time getting to the final. They had to travel away to HTS Middelburg for their semifinal which they won only in extra time. It was tough and not always pleasantly so as the Tekkies' forwards piled in. Two of their players did time in the sin bin.
To their credit Monnas fought back and gave their backs the chance to show their skills.
Monnas actually scored first when their outstanding right wing, tall Ghaliel Markus, made the most of a HTS Middelburg error to score. When prolific kicker Christian van den Berg goaled a penalty the visitors led 8-0 That was the half-time score in windy Middelburg.
The Rooi Bulle upped their intensity in the second half and seemed about to take over up front. Eventually tighthead prop Renier Venter burst over for a try which was not converted and then Ampie Korff kicked a penalty goal
After this Monnas seemed the fitter of the two sides and came back strongly. Fulltime ended with the score 8-all. That meant that there would be extra time of two halves of five minutes each.
Monnas spent the first five minutes in the Tekkies' half. When HTS Middelburg made a mistake behind the scrum Ghaliel Markus was on hand to make capital out of it and send Christiaan van de Berg over for a try which he converted. That made it 15-8.
In the second period of extra time HTS Middelburg attacked and SA Schools hooker Divan Kapp got close to the line, but the Monnas' defence held.
By contrast Waterkloof played at home against Transvalia and had a much easier passage to the final, scoring seven tries to nil, only two of which Stefan Watermeyer converted. The victory margin could have been greater as the Klofies took control after the initial energy of the Transvalia side dissipated. At half-time Klofies led 12-3
In the semi-finals for Medium Schools Overkruin of Pretoria and Frikkie Meyer of Thabazimbi won through to the final, both perhaps surprise finalists.
Overkruin beat Potch Volkies in a hard, tense match which Overkruin won 9-6, though Volkies had better scoring opportunities.
The match between Frikkie Meyer and Standerton was also a thriller 0- a different type of thriller as both sides ran with the ball, Frikkie Meyer winning 26-22.
Vryburg will defend their title in the Small Schools category after beating Erasmus 16-10 in Bronkhorstspruit where the wind blew.
In the other semi-final Parys beat Louis Trichardt 23-10 in Parys.
Fixtures for the Finals
Big Schools
All the matches will be played at Waterkloof, starting at 09.00.
Under-14: Waterkloof vs Affies
Under-15: Affies vs HTS Middelburg
Under-16: Waterkloof vs Kemptonpark
Under-19: Waterkloof vs Monument
Medium Schools
All the matches will be played at Overkruin
Under-14: Middelburg vs Rob Ferreira
Under-15: Ben Vorster vs Linden
Under-16: Klerksdorp vs Ben Vorster
Under-19: Overkruin vs Frikkie Meyer
Small Schools
Under-14: Vryburg vs Warmbad
Under-15: Schweizer Reineke vs Louis Trichardt
Under-16: Lydenburg vs Warmbad
Under-19: Vryburg vs Parys
