Try Does It for Noord-Kaap

In the first match on the second day of the Standard Bank Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival, played in glorious autumn sunshine between Hoërskool Noord-Kaap and HTS Middelburg, both teams were keen to get their first win at the festival.

Noord-Kaap held a slender three-point lead at half-time, although they looked the more dangerous with ball in hand. Wing Jacquin van Wyk opened the scoring after just five minutes, when he used his pace to round the defense scoring near the touchline. A great conversion by captain and fullback Elzandro Fredericks put them into a 7-0 lead.

This was held for most of the half until Middelburg capitalized on a handling mistake by Noord-Kaap. The ball passed through a few players before wing Quintino October scored under the uprights, giving Justin Botha an easy two pointer and narrowing the gap to 7-10.

An entertaining second half saw a resurgent Middelburg come back and, with five tries scored in the second half, the appreciative crowd became increasingly vocal. Play swung from touch-line to touch-line with both sides giving their best.

Alec Vermaak scored and converted to put Middelburg 14-10 in front. Bradley Human replied for Noord-Kaap scoring wide out, changing the lead to 15-14.

JP Esterhuysen put HTS back in front with a good hard running try, converted by Vermaak, to make it 21-15.

Noord-Kaap were not done. A penalty for a deliberate knock-on gave them an attacking line. The ball was played from the top straight into the hands of receiver Bradley Human who charged through the lineout and over defender to score.

The missed conversion left Noord-Kaap a point behind at 21-20. But still the Kimberleyites were not done. They attacked on the right and hooker Devin Steenkamp, in an outside-centre position, broke clean through to score at the posts. S Daniels converted to make it 27-21, the final score, for those were the winning points in a great contest.

Scorers

For Noord-Kaap:
Tries: Jacquin van Wyk, Bradley Human 2, Devin Steenkamp
Cons: Elzandro Fredericks, S Daniels
Pen: Elzandro Fredericks

For HTS Middelburg:
Tries: Quintino October, Alec Vermaak, JP Esterhuysen
Cons: Justin Botha 2, Alec Vermaak

Results

Day 2
Under-13 KZN Ibutho Hillcrest Primary 36-12
Noord-Kaap vs HTS Middelburg, 27-21

By Sue Miles of Working Words