St John's turn tables on St Stithians
Win the battle of the Saints
In their FNB Classic Clash at St John's on Saturday afternoon St John's beat St Stithians 8-3 in an exciting match which the hosts deserved to win.
Earlier this year St Stithians beat St John's 29-25.
St John's settled into their pattern of play earlier on in the game and seemed to have an edge on St Stithians in all phases. This might well have been because St Stithians were feeling the after effects of a tough private school festival which took place last weekend in Nelspruit. St Stithians do not regard that as an excuse as St John's had also been there for their three matches in four days, though St Stithians had had the really tough one – against Nelspruit on the Monday.
St John’s attacked at every opportunity and saw left-wing Simon Abiero score St John’s only try. It came after a well executed backline move.
Scott Spedding dictated play with his educated boot which kept the St John’s forwards on the front foot, and saw them dominate in the scrums, while the loose was evenly contested.
St Stithians struggled to get out of first gear but did defend very well and stopped St John’s a short of the line after a number of exciting attacks via the backline.
Ian Rickelton, the St Stithians coach, said of the match: "We did not contribute much to the day. We had our chances but were outplayed on the day"
Adrian Norris of St John's said: "It was an exciting match but the score probably flattered St Stithians who defended well. We helped them by taking some wrong options."
Scorers:
For St John's:
Try: Simon Abiero
Pen: Scott Spedding
For St Stithians:
Pen: Thoriso Shihau
Teams:
St John's Team: 15 Jean Joubert, 14 Greg Kilfoil, 13 Kyle Loos, 12 Thabo Monana, 11 Simon Abiero, 10 Scott Spedding (captain), 9 David de Oliveira, 8 Darren McEllan, 7 Lefa Motaing, 6 Terence Orpen, 5 Tyron Easton, 4 Thabo Motaung, 3 Byron Thomas, 2 Garikai Nyruwatu (vice-captain), 1 Anthony Kouderis
Coaches: Wynand Pretorius, Swys Joubert
St Stithians Team: 15 Alastair Majola, 14 Wayne du Preez, 13 Zingane Nyerenda, 12 Byron Pienaar, 11 Peter Hemsley (captain), 10 Thoriso Shihau, 9 Kgali Kglilobagang, 8 Malcolm Fourie, 7 Johannes Phutiygae, 6 David Dilkobo, 5 Craig de Jager, 4 Stephen Nutman, 3 Alastair Lawless, 2 Ryan Gahaga, 1 Sipho Buys
Coaches: Ian Rickelton, Leon Nortjé
Referee: Michael Cupido (Golden Lions)
