St John’s Easter Festival Wrap, Day 2
In the 133rd match in the history of the St John’s Easter Rugby Festival festival debutantes, Eye of the Tiger, game as they were, were no match for Hoërskool Nelspruit who ran in seven tries of which flyhalf Stephan van der Bank converted four. The men clad in yellow, Eye of the Tiger, were held to a 43-0 scoreline.
In the second matchup of the day, Parktown Boys’ High led by just a solitary try against St John’s Harare after the first stanza but roared back to score five more unanswered tries in the second half enabling Parktown to run convincing winners 36-0.
The game of the 2017 festival was provided by Hoërksool Florida and Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool from Pretoria, again a game where the lead changed hands no less than five times. Outside centre Zach Briel was the standout for Affies with two consecutive tries within seven minutes. But with Florida ahead and the clocking ticking it was fullback Heinrich Bisschoff who broke Florida hearts with a well-rounded try and 90 seconds remaining. Affies managed to take the game with a score of 28-24 after that big scare.
Hosts St John’s were 21 points down after just the first 18 minutes against Hilton College but two tries from Julian Zille either side of half time and some rock solid kicking from Kieran Houlston almost got the St John’s back into the fray but the Maritzburg lads held on 28-19.
Game five pitted Paarl Boys’ High against NSW Combined High Schools from Sydney, but the Australian lads were completely overwhelmed by a rampant Paarl who ran in no fewer than 13 tries to make it 67-0. Paarl fullback Abner van Reenen attained a very rare feat by scoring a three-try hat-trick within just eight minutes in the first half.
Helpmekaar and Paul Roos squared up against each other in a much-anticipated final match of the day. Within the first 26 minutes, the Parktown-based school was ahead with a 17-6-point lead. The tenacious Paul Roos team roared back in the second half with tries from JJ Kotze, Breyton Maritz as well as Remy Engelbrecht which meant that Paul Roos stacked 19 points in 19 minutes to snatch victory from an inspired Helpmekaar outfit with a score of 25-22.
Monday’s Fixtures
09.00: St John’s Harare vs Hilton
10.15: NSW Combined High Schools vs Florida
11.30: Parktown vs Paul Roos
12.45: Prep: St Stithians vs Pridwin
13.30: St John’s College vs Eye of the Tiger
14.45: Nelspruit vs Helpmekaar
16.00: Paarl Boys’ vs Affies
Tickets are R40 per person and available at the gate. Parking is R10 per car. Children under 6 years old and scholars in uniform enter free of charge.
All games are streamed live on our website, please visit: http://www/stjohnscollege.co.za/rugbyfestival
From Jacqui Deeks of St John's
