Rooibulle too Strong

The penultimate match on the second day at the Kearsney Easter Festival saw local side Glenwood taking on HTS Middelburg. It was a tough, closely fought encounter, resulting in a 22-11 win for the Rooibulle, which meant all three KwaZulu-Natal teams lost their second day fixtures.

It was not a good day for rugby in Durban.

Glenwood was first on the scoreboard as eighthman Marco Palvie forced his way over following a scrum. This was his fourth try in the two matches played at the festival. HTS Middelburg replied shortly after with a penalty by Ryan Cloete. The Glenwood side increased their lead 8-3 when Jerome Bossr added three points from a penalty.

Middelburg camped in the Glenwood 22m area and made numerous attempts to score. Two successive yellow cards against Glenwood left them trying to defend with 13 players, which they failed to do, as Middelburg wing Lewin Bronkhorst went over in the corner. It was well converted by Cloete to lead 10-8 at the break.

In the second period it was Middelburg that scored just three minutes after kick-off, when eighthman Erik Basson scored after some loose play. Cloete was again successful adding the extra points for a 15-8 lead.

A Bossr penalty narrowed the gap to 15-11, but HTS Middelburg moved the ball quickly through the hands to centre Brandon Par-Bailey who went over under the crossbar to dot down. He converted his own try for the lead to extend to 22-11.

Despite Glenwood making a final concerted effort, the boys from Middelburg held firm for their eventual victory.

Scorers:

For Glenwood:

Try: M Palvie

Pens: J Bossr 2

For HTS Middelburg:

Tries: E Basson, L Bronkhorst, B Par-Bailey

Cons: B Par-Bailey, R Cloete

Pen: R Cloete

Teams

Glenwood: 15 Jaydon Morgan, 14 Gideon Lubbe, 13 Donovan du Randt, 12 Ruan van Rensburg, 11 Ilunga Mukendi, 10 Jerome Bossr, 9 Sibonakaliso Dubazane, 8 Marco Palvie, 7 Nama Xaba (captain), 6 Austin Brummer, 5 Arnoux Venter, 4 Dylan Weideman, 3 Khuthazani Mchunu, 2 Quintin Vorster, 1 Christopher Klopper.

Replacements: 16 Connor Botha, 17 Reinier van Rooyen, 18 Kwenzokuhle Blose, 19 Lencho Brynard, 20 Jordan du Preez, 21 Maarten Holtzhausen, 22 Devan Brough, 23 Ajay Pretorius.

HTS Middelburg: 15 Brandon Par-Bailey, 14 Ryan Cloete, 13 Jacques du Toit, 12 Ruan Luddick, 11 Lewin Bronkhorst, 10 Reynard van As, 9 Francois de Villiers, 8 Erik Basson (captain), 7 Derik Willemse, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Tiaan Botha, 4 Eduan Mare, 3 Neven Nel, 2 Gerik Mynhardt, 1 JP Mans.

Replacements: 16 Walter Janse van Rensburg, 17 Ruben Cross, 18 Phillip Hennop, 19 Bernard Kotzenberg, 20 Jandré Venter, 21 Waldo Conradie, 22 Brandon Weyers.