SA Schools finish unbeaten

The SA Schools team on Saturday defeated England U18 23-16.

It was a hard-fought and physical encounter at the City Park Stadium in Crawford, Cape Town.

The SA Schools team were smart on attack as they retained possession for long periods. They put their bodies on the line on defence throughout the match. SA Schools flyhalf Curwin Bosch, meanwhile, kept the scoreboard ticking with his accurate goal kicking.

The victory for the SA Schools team allowed them to finish the Series as the only unbeaten team, while they also avenged their defeat against England in last year's series, which marked their first defeat in four years in the Under-18 International Series.

The SA Schools A team, meanwhile, drew 20-20 against Wales following a late surge by the visitors to force their way back into the match. The SA Schools A side built up a 10-3 lead early in the match, but the strong Welsh pack allowed them to force their way back into the game to level the scores late in the second half.

In the other match France defeated Italy 25-17.

SA Schools 23 (10) England 16 (6)

England opened up the scoring with a penalty in the opening minutes, but they were soon forced to defend as the SA Schools team put together phases and worked their way close to the tryline. The home team's determined efforts to starve England of possession and score finally paid off in the 22nd minute after hooker Johan Grobbelaar dashed through a gap in the defence before being tackled, which scrumhalf Embrose Papier capitalised on to dive in the first try. Bosch added a penalty soon after to stretch their lead to 10-3.

England hit back with a penalty of their own to trail by only four points, and with neither team able to add to their score the SA Schools entered the break 10-6 ahead. They fought back with intent after the break as they got their hands on the ball and forced their way through the defence to score their first try compliments of Max Malins to edge their way into an 11-10 lead.

But this was short-lived as Papier found space out wide and passed the ball to Hacjivah Dayimani who touched down. Bosch converted the try and added two penalties to push the hosts 23-11 ahead. Both teams were reduced to 14 players in the minute following a scuffle up-front. Despite neither team having a numbers advantage England managed to force their way through the defence in the last minute to go down 23-16.

Scorers:

SA Schools:

Tries: Papier, Dayimani

Cons: Bosch 2

Pens: Bosch 3

England U18:

Tries: Crossdale, Malins

Pens: Clews 2

Teams:

SA Schools: 15 Andell Loubser, 14 Nico Leonard , 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Heino Bezuidenhout, 11 Manie libbok, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 6 Johan Visser, 5 Ruben de Villiers, 4 Handre Stassen, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Cabous Eloff.

Replacements: 16 Nico Peyper, 17 ashwyn Adams, 18 Dewald Maritz, 19 Kwezi Mafu, 20 Zain Davids, 21 Jondré Williams, 22 Damian Willemse, 23 David Brits, 24 Wandisile Simelane, 25 Salmaan Moerat, 26 Manuel Ras.

England U18 : 15 Max Malins, 14 Sam Aspland-Robinson, 13 Max Wright, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Roti Segun, 10 Theo Brophy Clews, 9 Jack Maunder, 8 Callum Chick, 7 Will Allman, 6 Zach Mercer, 5 Nick Isiekwe, 4 Archie White, 3 Billy Walker, 2 Joe Mullis, 1 Jake Pope,

Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Billy Keast, 18 Charlie Capps, 19 Alex Moon, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Darren Atkins, 22 Alex Mitchell, 23 Dominic Morris, 24 Ali Crossdale, 25 Gabriel Ibitoye.   

SA Schools A 20 (10) Wales 20 (8)

Wales applied early pressure on the SA Schools A team as they retained possession and strung together phases, but they were forced to settle for a penalty as they battled to penetrate the defence. The hosts, however, hit back with back-to-back tries within two minutes by flanker Phillip Krause and flyhalf Bader Pretorius after fantastic breaks on attack for a 10-3 lead. Wales fought back with intent with their strong forwards and managed to force their way over the tryline to reduce the gap on the scoreboard to 10-8 before the break.

The SA Schools A team came out firing in the second half with flanker Kwanda Dimaza dodging his way around a defender and diving over the tryline to extend their lead to 17-8. They added a penalty to stretch their lead to 20-8. Wales, however, forced their way back into the match with a converted try by Josh Macleod to reduce the deficit to 20-15.

They added another try nine minutes later compliments of prop Leon Brown, but an unsuccessful conversion left the scores level at 20-20. Both teams defended like demons in the dying minutes, which forced them to settle for a draw.

Scorers:

Tries: Pretorius, Dimaza, Krause

Con: Smit

Pens: Smit

Wales  U18

Tries: Macleod, Brown, Sieniawski

Con: McBryde

Pen: Hall

Teams

SA Schools A: 15 Riaan van Rensburg, 14 Tyreeq February, 13 Abner van Reenen, 12 Cornel Smit, 11 Ryan Muller, 10 Bader Pretorius, 9 Matthew Dahl, 8 Khanya Ncusane, 7 Kwanda Dimaza, 6 Phillip Krause, 5 Ruan Vermaak, 4 Reinhard Nothnagel, 3 Mashao Mukhari, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Christoper Klopper.

Replacements: 16 André Lategan, 17 Abram Venter, 18 Ignatius Pinsloo, 19 Kamva Dilima, 20 Marco Palvie, 21 Jason Olivier, 22 Eddie Fouche, 23 Cyprian Nkomo, 24 Mujaahid van der Hoven, 25 Earll Douwrie.

Wales : 15 Daniel Cross 14 Teri Morgan-Gee 13 Connor Edwards 12 Billy McBryde 11 Josh Hodson 10 Callum Hall 9 Matthew Aubrey; 1 Cory Domachowski 2 Ellis Shipp 3 Leon Brown 4 Calum Haggett (Capt) 5 Callum Bradbury 6 Shane Lewis- Hughes 7 Shaun Evans 8 Morgan Sieniawski;

Replacements: 16 Gerwyn Coleman 17 Steffan Thomas 18 Kieron Assirratti 19 Rhys Fawcett 20 Bryce Morgan 21 Josh Macleod 22 Ianton Parri 23 Efan Jones.