Thrillers on Day 2 at Kingswood
The first match on Day 2 of the Independent Schools Rugby Festival being played at Kingswood College in Grahamstown, may just end up being the outstanding match of the tournament.
Un beaten Hilton faced Bishops, who are ranked above them on the Schools Top 20, and the Midlands school suffered its first defeat.
Two converted tries, one converted from tough, gave Bishops at 14-0 lead but Hilton came back with a penalty and a try of their own to make the time scored an exciting 14-10.
In the second half Bishops scored a penalty and then a try to lead 24-10. Just before the end Hilton scored their second try to make the final score 24-17.
The match between St Stithians of Johannesburg and Graeme College of Grahamstown was a thriller, from start to its intense climax. Graeme led for all but eight minutes in the match – the first seven minutes before they opened the scoring until the Saints’ try under the posts just before the end. At half time Graeme led 24-10.
With five minutes to go, Graeme led 41-29. The Saints scored and converted and scored and converted again, 14 points in the last five minutes.
With fewer points than in the Saints-Graeme match, the mat chg between Michaelhouse and St Alban’s was also a thriller. Again the winner came from behind. In fact they went beyond the scheduled time to win. Time was up but two penalties set Michaelhouse on the attack and when they mauled at a five-metre line-out, all 15 players joined in to score the winning time – three minutes into injury time.
In the final match of the day, the comeback was great but was a point short of succeeding.
Kingswood scored first and at half were leading 18-7. Well into the second half they were leading 25-12. Then Kearsney pulled out all the stops, scoring 12 points in the last five minutes.
Results, Day 2
Bishops vs Hilton, 24-17
St John’s vs Eeze Fana Academy, 55-7
Clifton vs St Andrew’s School, 45-10
St Stithians vs Graeme College, 43-41
St Andrew’s College vs St David’s, 33-0
Michaelhouse vs St Alban’s, 15-12
Kingswood vs Kearsney, 25-24
Results, Day 1
St David’s vs St Andrew’s School, 17-12
Michaelhouse vs St Stithians, 22-17
Clifton College vs Eeze Fana Academy, 35-21
St John’s College vs Graeme College, 26-10
Hilton College vs St Alban’s College, 33-0
Kearsney College vs St Andrew’s College, 25-17
Bishops vs Kingswood College, 19-10
Fixtures
Day 3 – Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Matches to be played at Knight Field Pool.
09.00: Eeze Fana Academy vs St Stithians
09.00: St Andrew’s High vs St Alban’s
10.15: Kearsney vs St John’s
10.15: St Andrew’s College vs Hilton
11.30: Kingswood vs Clifton
11.30: St David’s vs Michaelhouse
The pick of the matches could just be St Andrew’s against Hilton.
